Missing
by lostinrealityforever
Summary: 13 years ago Hermione Granger left her friends and disappeared. Now as their children leave for Hogwarts they are drawn back together and past wounds are drawn open again. OOC DMHG. HPGW.
1. Like The Deserts Miss The Rain

_I step off the train,  
I'm walking down your street again,  
and past your door,  
but you don't live there anymore.  
Its years since you've been there.  
Now you've disappeared somewhere  
like outer space,  
you've found some better place,  
and I miss you  
- like the deserts miss the rain.  
_

"What time will we need to get the twins up in the morning?" Draco glanced up at his wife from where he sat at the large wooden table in their kitchen and smiled, unable to understand how he could ever have hated her. She was beautiful, intelligent and the most diligent mother he could ever have hoped to have for his children. "Draco, I doubt the Evening Prophet is that interesting, answer the question." Draco smirked; she'd never lost her sarcasm and took every opportunity to shrink his ego, always failing.

"What time does the train leave?" He raised an eyebrow and sipped his glass of red wine. Hermione was right; there was nothing to read in the paper, watching her cook dinner for the two of them would be a much more enjoyable pastime.

"11. As usual. It's only fifteen years since you were there, forgotten so soon?"

"I've been distracted since." He raised an eyebrow suggestively and Hermione giggled softly as she placed two bowls of spaghetti carbonara down on the table and sat down next to Draco as he sprinkled parmesan across his dinner.

"Do you think they're asleep?"

"Hermione love, did you sleep the night before your first day at Hogwarts?"

"No. I was incredibly nervous; I was worried it was all a joke and that if it wasn't I would be appalling."

Draco raised an eyebrow, not needing to reply. He'd given up trying to convince Hermione that she was the best witch of her generation. A blood curdling screech from above them echoed through the room but neither reacted quickly, this was obviously a regular occurrence.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad." A small girl's voice screamed down the stairs and rolling his eyes Draco stood up and stuffing his hands in his pockets left the cavernous basement kitchen and began to make his way up three flights of stairs to his daughter's bedroom. Reaching the second floor landing he pushed open the door with "Lissy" written on it in pink and silver sparkling letters and saw his son stood on the end of his daughter's bed threatening her with his newly acquired wand. Lissy was cowering against the pale beech headboard.

"Alexander Malfoy, stop threatening your sister this instant." Draco scolded strongly and his son jumped down immediately, Draco drew in a sharp breath as he realised how much like his own father he sounded. Except he wasn't like his own father, he loved his kids, showed them affection, played with them.

"Dad?" He looked up to see Alex and Lissy sat on the end of Lissy's bed looking up at him with anxious looks playing on their fine features. Draco smiled softly and sat down between the twins, placing an arm around each of their shoulders, he was so fond of the children, his children – his children that were also Hermione's children. He smiled once more and pulled the children back down onto the bed.

About fifteen minutes later Hermione, having finished both Draco's and her own dinner opened the door to Lissy's room to find her children curled up fast asleep, tucked into their father's sides. Hermione giggled softly and levitated Alexander through the doorway and into his own bedroom down the hall, making sure he was safely tucked up in his dark blue bed she levitated her husband down the stairs and into their own room.

* * *

"Merlin, isn't this exciting…" Ginny rubbed her hands together as she and Harry watched their son board the Hogwarts Express for the first time.

"Very." Harry grinned and wrapped his arm around Ginny's waist as James waved at them from the window of the compartment he and Ron and Lavender's son William had snared for themselves.

"Definitely." Ron agreed but in a slightly melancholic tone he added; "But someone else should be stood with us."

"Hermione." Harry, Ginny and Lavender all spoke her name softly. The friends hadn't seen her in thirteen years, the end of the crusades that she had fought valiantly with Harry and Ron, searching for the Horcruxes and destroying Voldemort. One night in the glorious aftermath of his destruction, Hermione had sat Harry, Ron and Ginny down and explained that she was leaving, she had been severely affected by the War and wanted to get away from it all. They hadn't realised she meant forever; and when after eighteen months the trickle of occasional letters had stopped the friends had resigned themselves to the fact that she was gone. Of course they'd looked for her, but Hermione was clever, if she didn't want to be found she wouldn't be.

_Could you be dead?  
You always were two steps ahead  
of everyone.  
We'd walk behind while you would run.  
I look up at your house,  
and I can almost hear you shout  
down to me  
where I always used to be,  
and I miss you -  
like the deserts miss the rain.  
_

* * *

Draco crouched down so that he was level with Alex's face; Hermione was stood a few feet away hugging Lissy, they were at the far end of Platform 9&¾ at Hermione's request, she didn't' want to confront any friends from the past just yet. Alex clutched his father's hand and Draco spoke solemnly. "Promise me you'll take care of Lissy?"

"Yes."

"Good. And uphold the family name." Draco smirked knowing that the children's name had such huge connotations and stood up, pushing Alex towards the train where he joined his sister in a compartment. Hermione stood next to Draco and glanced up at his thoughtful face as he stared across the platform spotting some familiar red hair. "Hermione…" He spoke softly and she screwed her face up.

"Not today, Draco. I'm not ready."

* * *

Ginny hugged Harry and over his shoulder saw a tall man with a black baseball cap hugging a young boy with messy platinum blonde hair, a few feet away a petite woman with wavy chocolate brown hair was saying goodbye to a girl with long wavy platinum blonde hair, clearly the children were related. Twins perhaps Ginny thought as they got onto the train together; the hair reminded her of the Malfoy's but they couldn't be Malfoy's children, everyone knew that he had been killed by aurors.

The woman turned to speak to the man in the cap and Ginny gasped, even after thirteen years she would recognise those deep brown eyes anywhere: Hermione.

"Ginny, what is it?" Harry pulled away and looked into Ginny's eyes searchingly.

"Harry, Hermione." Ginny breathed and Harry's eyes flew open, he turned around and followed her gaze to see her hugging the man in the black cap, he could just make out bits of blonde hair at the rim of the cap and shook his head. It couldn't be, she was meant to have left their world, and he was meant to have left any world.

"It can't be her, why would she be with him?" Harry scowled.

"Harry it _is_ her and you know it, please can we go and talk to her."

"Gin, let her come to us. When she's ready." Harry went against his better judgement and turned away from Hermione and Malfoy.

* * *

Hermione rolled over into Draco's arms as they lay in between the cream sheets in their burgundy and cream themed bedroom. "You saw them today didn't you." It wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact and Draco shivered slightly. He knew that they'd received many questioning gazes today at King's Cross; they were just too recognisable to be ignored.

"Yes." Draco replied and wrapped an arm around Hermione. "But you said you weren't ready."

"I don't know anymore Draco, the twins aren't here to distract me anymore…" She began to sob quietly and Draco held her close once more.


	2. Answers

**A/N:** _Thanks to my reviewers, compliments always enspire me to write more! Hopefully this chapter will give some answers as to "why?" but I'm going to try and keep the story moving as suggested. I'm also going to try and feature the children and their adventuresin the next few chapters, thanks again._

* * *

Ginny Potter (nee Weasley) sucked on her quill and scribbled a few notes down as she gazed out of the window of her office in the Department for International Magical Cooperation. It was only a part time job, she still had two children to take care of and Harry could hardly be relied on to do that, he was always off saving the world as an Auror. She couldn't stop dwelling on their sighting of Hermione, long lost Hermione. It had always been at the back of her mind but now it was driving her crazy, where was she?

An owl swooped in through her open door and settled itself on her desk, a piece of thin parchment attached to it. Ginny pulled the letter off and gave the ink black owl a treat from her desk drawer. She looked at the dark blue seal inquisitively; an M and G were entwined perfectly. Ripping the letter open Ginny read it quickly and her eyes flew wide open:

_Ginny,_

_You're probably thinking, why now? But ever since my husband saw you three days ago at the station I can't stop thinking about you, Harry and Ron. I know you must be angry with me for disappearing, I never intended not to come back, time just seemed to loose itself. I'm sorry that I never kept in contact, but I want to explain. I want to earn your friendship again._

_Meet me in the Leaky Cauldron at 8pm tonight._

_Love, Hermione._

Exactly, Ginny thought, why now Hermione? And who was this husband…the man with her on the platform had looked suspiciously like Malfoy but Hermione would never have married Malfoy, and anyway, he was dead. Apparently.

* * *

"Gillywater?" Draco questioned Hermione as they walked into the Leaky Cauldron, she nodded in reply and they separated, Draco (dressed in distressed jeans and a black shirt) to the bar and Hermione (brown cords and a white shirt) to a table for five in the corner. Sitting down on one of the plush sofa's Hermione ran her hands through her hair nervously; there was so much to explain, so much to catch up on.

"Nervous?" Draco questioned Hermione as he placed her drink down on the table and wrapped an arm around her delicate shoulders. She nodded and he smiled, pulling her closer to him. "It'll be fine, they'll understand."

"Will they?" Hermione replied quietly and looked up to see a memorable couple walk in, Ginny's deep red hair glowed and Harry held her hand gently as he smiled at something she'd said. Hermione watched the smile turn to a worried frown as he spotted Hermione and Draco.

"Maybe I shouldn't have come." Draco replied and Hermione shook her head.

"No, you are part of my life Draco. And at any rate, I need your support. If they care about me they'll understand."

"It might be difficult Hermione." She looked up to see Harry stood by the table, forgetting everything she jumped up from Draco's arms and hugged her best friend tight as if she was seventeen again. Harry felt the warmth flow through her as she sobbed into his shoulder, and knew that even if they hadn't spoken for over a dozen years, she still cared.

"Ginny…" Hermione released Harry who stood staring at Draco who fiddled with his pint of mead anxiously. "I missed you so much." Ginny hugged Hermione who was smiling through her tears.

"Then why didn't you get in contact?" Harry questioned bitterly as they all sat down again.

"When Ron arrives, I promise I will explain everything."

"Including him?" Harry jerked a thumb at Draco and Hermione winced, if anything was going to prevent their friendship from redeveloping it was old grudges and bitterness.

"MALFOY!" Hermione recoiled at the sound of Ron's shout which caused half of the people in the pub to look at them. Draco rolled his eyes and muttered something about "which one?" under his breath.

"Ron." Hermione hugged him and whispered in his ear softly, "Please, let me explain and then you can shout and scream as much as you want."

"There had better be a damn good reason 'Mione."

"I promise, there is." Hermione replied and gestured for Ron to sit down; Draco had disappeared to get drinks for the trio leaving Hermione alone with her friends to explain. "I don't really know where to begin…"

"How about why you left, why you _really_ left…because you knew we wouldn't want you going off with a death eater maybe?" Ron spoke viciously.

"Ron, I didn't see Draco until a year after I'd left the wizarding world." She shook her head and sipped her drink. "But you are right, I need to explain first why I left, the complete truth." Taking a deep breath she began; "defeating the Dark Side took everything out of me, I had become a killer – a killer for the best, but a killer none the less and emotionally I had been destroyed."

"We all were 'Mione." Harry interrupted.

"I know, Harry, I know. But I couldn't cope with all the attention, we were being hailed as heroes and I've never been one to want to be in the spotlight. I know you didn't want it either…" She held up her hand to stop him speaking, "but I was on the verge of suicide. I knew I had to leave, and so I did. I went to my parents and got a job working in a bar in muggle London; I saved up enough money and went travelling. I was working in a bar in Sydney about fourteen months after I'd left you guys and Draco walked in, to be honest he looked awful."

"He was on the run wasn't he?" Ginny questioned, making sure that Draco was still at the bar.

"Yes. From both sides…becoming a death eater isn't something you can just turn away from and it wasn't like he was in favour with us. We started talking, I couldn't help it…he was relying on alcohol, bitter, scared, and for some strange reason I understood him. He was sleeping on the streets so I got him to move into my tiny apartment with me, it wasn't exactly all sweetness and light, it never has been. We hated each other on principal, and I threw him out about five times in one month. But then I'd see him again and bring him back, he needed help and you know what I'm like, I'm not happy unless I have a task to work on. Draco became my task. He proposed about eighteen months later, I was already pregnant with the twins and we married about a month later in Bali. It was perfect but there was something missing, you three and all my other friends. As I said before, it wasn't exactly a bed of roses but I love Draco and I know he loves me." Ron snorted at this statement and Hermione frowned in return.

"When did you move back to England?" Harry questioned.

"About three years ago. We wanted the twins to go to Hogwarts, of course. And that was when we started our own business…"

"No freeloading off the back of the Malfoy fortune then?" Ron smirked as Draco returned.

"Weasley, do you honestly think that I want my father's tainted money?"

Ron looked over Hermione and Draco in their smart clothing and then at the expensive looking rings on Hermione's left hand. "Yes Malfoy, I believe you would."

"Ron." Hermione scolded. "Of course we had to use Draco's _family's_ money." Hermione said stressing the word family. "I couldn't work with the kids and Draco was still a marked man. It's only thanks to Harry's endeavours as an Auror that meant that we could finally return to London."

Harry smiled smugly and Ginny hit him lightly round the head. "Don't inflate his ego 'Mione."

Hermione laughed and continued. "After we returned to London we bought our own house and started our own pharmaceutical potions business, it's been a great success…"

"MG Potions…" Ginny hit herself on the forehead lightly and rolled her eyes. "Why didn't I realise before?"

"Because, the name aside, there never was much of a clue as to the owners."

"And now? Why get in contact now?" Ron asked, draining his glass of firewhisky.

"Because I saw you at King's Cross, and I felt so guilty. I've been living a life and you must have thought me dead…"

"It had crossed my mind…" Harry looked into Hermione's sad eyes and saw that she was truly sorry.

"I need you guys." She gestured to the three of them as they studied her; Draco slipped an arm around her waist in support. "But I need you to accept that Draco has changed."

"Not changed Hermione, just improved." He winked and Harry laughed quietly.

"'Mione love, we were always here, we never went anywhere. But as for him, I think I speak for those two as well when I saw I'll need time…"

* * *

"That went better than I thought it would…" Hermione spoke softly as she buried her head in the pillow.

"They'll never trust me will they?" Draco commented as he appeared from their en-suite bathroom.

"Not completely, no. I don't expect they will."

"But you do?"

"Yes. How many times do I have to tell you that? I trust you, I love you, I need you…" Draco smirked and walked over to the bed.

"What was that?"

"I need you…" Hermione spoke huskily as Draco straddled her shapely lower back and began rubbing her taught muscles. "I need you Draco Malfoy…" She spun over underneath him and looked up into his eyes with hunger.

_Damn those eyes,  
They keep me torn inside.  
She runs like a river through me,  
Always you. _

_Eyes don't lie, words may try.  
She comes like a mystery, flows through me,  
And I swear it's true,  
Always you... _

* * *

_In case anyone was wondering, the song in Chapter One was Missing by Everything But The Girl, the lyrics at the end of this chapter are from Damn Those Eyes by the Dutch band "Kane". Review please!_


	3. I Have To Learn

_I have to learn, have to try, have to trust I have to cry__  
__Have to see, have to know that I can be myself_

_If I could I would stay__  
__And if they're not, not in my way __  
__I'll stare here in the distance__  
__But I'll grow up to be just like you_

"Do you think Mum's okay?" Lissy Malfoy turned to her brother as they peered out of the window of their compartment at the ever shrinking figures on the station platform, their mother enveloped in their father's arms.

"I think she's going to miss us." Alex replied and then shrugged. "But I think she's worried about something else as well." He sat down and put his feet up on the opposite bench pulling his wand from the pocket of his jeans and twirling it around in his thin fingers. "Sit down and stop fussing, Lissy."

After a few seconds his sister, his junior by a few minutes settled herself opposite him and moved his feet away from her. She smirked at him as he scowled. Lissy fiddled with the edge of her black Weird Sisters t-shirt and looked up at him. "What do you think it's going to be like?"

"Well we've had Mum's version: adventure, great friends, learning and well, more learning." The twins laughed together. "And Dad's version: fights, Quidditch, plotting in lessons and banter."

"I suppose it all depends on what house we get in."

"We're Malfoy's; we'll be in Slytherin of course. Come on Liss, we've known that for years…"

Lissy glanced up from the floor and raised an eyebrow. "Alexander, we are Malfoy – Granger's. Mum was about as Gryffindor as you get."

"Which would make us Slythindors then?" Alex smirked and Lissy giggled. "Wait and see Lissy, wait and see." Just then the compartment door was pulled open and a tall girl with feathery strawberry blonde hair accompanied by a tall freckled red head and a slightly smaller red headed girl leaned around the doorframe.

"First years?" The boy asked and Lissy and Alex nodded silently. "Don't look so scared, I'm Jake Weasley, I'm a fifth year Gryffindor prefect. This is Milla Weasley, she's my cousin, in sixth year, and this is Frankie, she's third year, she's our cousin too."

"Gryffindor?" Lissy's face lit up and the three older students sat down in the compartment.

"Yeah. Just like the rest of the family, we've got two more of our cousins starting this year as well, James Potter and Anna Weasley. I'd bet a huge amount of galleons they're in Gryffindor too. My sister, Lily, Gryffindor 2nd year, Milla's two brothers in 4th year and 2nd year, Frankie's older brother in 5th year. Oh and our other cousin Zara in 3rd year. The whole family." Jake laughed.

"Wow. Your family is big." Lissy laughed. "Our parents are only children so we don't have many relatives."

"So, you guys have names?" Milla glanced between the twins questioningly.

"Yeah, this is Lissy Malfoy - Granger, and I'm Alex Malfoy – Granger."

Jake nodded in recognition. "Well hopefully you'll be lucky enough to make Gryffindor…"

"Jake," Milla dug an elbow in his side sharply and he muffled a shout. "Don't go prejudicing them against other houses…" She muttered.

"Okay okay. Good Luck at the sorting." Jake winked at them and the Weasley trio left to continue their trip down the train.

_

* * *

Lissy and Alex looked out over the Great Hall from the line waiting to be sorted, it was vast, more impressive than the image either of their parents had ever managed to conjure for them. They were nervous although neither of them showed it, Alex was smirking and Lissy had a slight smile on her face. "Look, there's the people we met on the train earlier…" Alex whispered, subtly pointing out a group of around eight people all with very red hair sat at the Gryffindor table, they were all laughing and joking._

"Verity Mai." Professor Sprout called forward the next nervous first year and Lissy giggled excitedly. "We're next Al."

"I know, good luck little sis." He grinned as Verity Mai hurried off towards the Ravenclaw table. "Wherever we end up, I'll look after you." He winked and turned to Professor Sprout as she turned to the piece of parchment once more.

"Alexander…" She paused her mouth slightly open. A cough from Professor McGonagall shook her from her amazement at Alex's surname and she continued. "Alexander Malfoy – Granger." Suddenly McGonagall understood her shock and her eyes widened as Alex strode forward.

_Intriguing, intriguing indeed. Of course your father was easy to place, he was a Malfoy and Malfoy's belong in Slytherin. But you young man, your mother was a special lady and very different to your father. But I see you are loyal to him, it will have to be, SLYTHERIN!_

Alex grinned broadly and stood up, nodding to Lissy and striding down to the Slytherin table where he was greeted with cheers as any new Malfoy was, people hurried to make his acquaintance, hoping to get on his good side and Lissy shook her head as she walked forward to be sorted.

_Ah, twins I see. You must be expecting the same house as your brother but I feel it would do you good to move out from under his shadow. **I'm not in his shadow, Lissy thought indignantly.**_ _Indeed, you are not, but you are a very different person. He's is your father's son and you are your mother's daughter, for this reason I proclaim you a GRYFFINDOR!_

Lissy hurried off the platform toward the Gryffindor table sneaking a look at Alex who looked bemused at their separation. Milla Weasley had stood up and shoved her cousins along to make room for Lissy in their midst, she hugged the young Malfoy lightly. "From what I hear," Milla whispered in Lissy's ear as they sat down, "you're the first of your family ever to be in this house. That makes you special." She smiled warmly at Lissy. "Ssshh…" She put a finger to her lips and pointed to the sorting hat, "we can do introductions in a minute, shut up now, James is being sorted."

"Oh." Jake silenced himself promptly and leant backwards to get a view of his cousin.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat bellowed and a redhead with flowing curls next to Lissy squealed excitedly. All the other cousins looked at her scathingly. "I mean, I knew we'd get him, he's a Potter! Of course we got him, look at Uncle Harry. But that doesn't stop me getting excited…JAMES!" She shrieked and hugged her cousin tightly as he sat down next to her.

"Zara…" The other cousins shook their heads lightly and sighed.

"Okay we can do some introductions quickly…" Frankie interrupted as James pulled himself free from Zara's arms. "Right, you know me, Jake and Milla. But this is my older brother William, Bill for short. Jake's sister, Lily. Milla's brothers Charlie and Ed and Zara, the only, only child in the family." She poked her tongue out at the excitable 4th year. "And James Potter, the only non Weasley in the family at school." Frankie indicated the skinny boy with dark hair who had joined the group. "Everyone, this is Lissy Malfoy – Granger. We met her and her twin brother on the train."

"Hi Lissy!" The entire family at Hogwarts, save Anna who was still waiting to be sorted, waved at Lissy and she blushed and laughed. "So what house did your brother get in?" Charlie asked.

"Slytherin." She replied quickly.

"Wow, that's amazing. I don't think any family's been split between the two before."

"Except Sirius and Regulus." Milla added quickly.

"Well yeah, but that was just odd."

"It's not odd for us really…you see, Malfoy's have always…"

"Been in Slytherin." Charlie laughed. "Yeah, we heard Sprout stumble over your name. What's so special about you then?"

"It's not just me, its both of us. We're Malfoy – Granger's. I don't know the whole story, just that our mother was in Gryffindor, she was best friends with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, they killed…" Lissy trailed off as she realized that they were all staring at her. "And you're the children of my mum's best friends aren't you?" She half laughed in shock.

"You're Hermione's daughter?" James turned to her and she nodded slowly. "But Hermione went missing, she left; I always heard Mum and Dad talking about her…"

"Guys, maybe this isn't the time…" Milla intervened. "Write to your parents perhaps…YES!" She called out happily as Anna Weasley was sorted into Gryffindor. "Well done Ans." She hugged her cousin and introduced Lissy to her.

But Lissy and James had continued to stare at each other, confused. They now knew that their parents had been best friends but couldn't quite understand why they'd never met before, never laid eyes on each other before that day. Even the arrival of huge platters of food couldn't distract them and from across the Great Hall Alex watched his sister with concerned eyes; he didn't want to disappoint his father on their first day by failing to protect her.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry if this chappie's a bit confusing with all the name's but its mainly about setting up relationships within Hogwarts for the younger generation. Let me know if you'd rather I focussed on the kids or the adults or an even mix of both. Mucho thanks to all my reviewers, and sorry for the delay in getting this up, the plot bunnies just weren't forthcoming.

Also, one of the first Draco/Hermione fics I read on here, I can't remember the name of and I was wondering whether anyone knows the one I'm describing: Hermione is a pureblood and bethrothed to Draco (I think) her real surname is Lanna. And one of the chapters is called Lanna. They have to go to Malfoy Manor but end up staying in a small cabin/cottage in the grounds, and I can't remember anymore. shrug. Anyway, must return to my Salters Advanced Chemistry work...toodles.


	4. Consequences of the Inquisition

Harry slammed the door and stalked into the kitchen, sitting down with a shout of anger. Ginny looked up from preparing their dinner bemused, a sort of half smile playing on her lips.

"Good day, darling?" She tried to stop herself from laughing at his obvious outrage but failed miserably.

"You would not believe…" Harry mumbled and took a long sip of the Butterbeer Ginny had pushed in his direction. "Ron and I, we went to see Malfoy this afternoon…"

"What did you go and do that for?" Ginny cried. "Hermione's happy, Harry…" She sing-songed.

"We don't trust him…" Harry gritted out.

"I gathered as much." Ginny passed Harry a plate of food and he stared at it blankly.

"You know what he said! Do you have any idea what he said!" Harry yelled, shaking the room.

"You'll wake the kids." Ginny interjected.

"They'll live." Harry waved her off. "We asked him why they were together, what had happened, what he had done to our 'Mione."

"And..?"

"My bad! He said, my bad! I mean what in the name of Merlin is that supposed to mean. He said, casual as anything. 'My bad. I didn't ask her to fall in love with me.'"

Ginny chucked. "What did you expect, Harry? Him to beg for forgiveness? This is Malfoy we're talking about!"

"And that, love, is exactly my problem!"

* * *

_Dear Mum & Dad,_

_Everything's great, Hogwarts is so much better than you described – the Great Hall – Wow! I got sorted into Gryffindor, just like you Mum! & Alex got Slytherin like you Dad! Following in your footsteps! I've become friends with loads of children from one family – they're all Weasley's and there are loads of them! Milla – the eldest; always makes sure I'm fine. _

_I'd better run, its Potions next and I don't want to upset Professor Zabini, he's really strict! Alex is okay and sends his love, we don't see a lot of each other but we're potions partners, just like you guys!_

_Take care and loads of HUGS!_

_Lissy_

_XXXX_

Hermione sighed softly and pinned the first letter from her offspring on the front of the fridge door so that Draco could see it when he got home from the office. Picking up her dinner plate she put it in the sink which immediately began to wash it automatically; she covered Draco's dinner with film and put it in the fridge. She honestly had no idea where he was, she just presumed something had come up at the office which it invariably did.

Grabbing a bottle of red wine from the rack Hermione sat back down at the kitchen table and stared tiredly through the French doors, beyond the few sofas and TV that led to the small swimming pool and hot tub. The basement of the house was where they spent the most it; it housed the granite and stainless steel kitchen Hermione had dreamed of for years, the large wooden table that seated up to twelve, the small TV area and the swimming pool. The ground floor housed an elegant drawing room and formal dining room for special occasions. The first floor was Draco and Hermione's domain – the master bedroom and en suite bathroom as well as a large study. On the second floor the twins ruled the roost with their bedrooms, bathrooms and den. The third floor housed two en suite guest rooms and the attic contained organised piles of what Draco called junk and Hermione defended as clutter.

All in all it was a perfect family home, Draco adored it because it was warm and welcoming unlike the infamous Manor he had grown up in and Hermione loved it because it was her own and everything she had dreamed of as a little girl.

A resounding crack from the Entrance Hall awoke Hermione from her reverie and she glanced up hopefully to see Draco running lightly down the stairs looking tired but cheerful. "Merlin, I'm so late. What a day…sorry, love." He spoke softly and kissed the top of her head. "Dinner in the fridge?" Hermione nodded silently and Draco pulled it out, heating it with a quick charm he sat down and began devouring the Shephard's pie quickly.

"You'll never guess who came by the office this afternoon."

"Try me." Hermione spoke wearily.

"Potter and Weasley. Wanted to know if you," he jabbed his fork at Hermione. "Had been telling the truth the other night. I mean the audacity of it!" His voice had grown louder and Hermione sighed.

"I expected it."

"Well you might have warned me so that I could have prepared myself for the Spanish Inquisition."

"That bad eh?"

"That bad." Draco nodded solemnly, took a long sip of the wine Hermione had passed him and then laughed loudly. "They even accused me of having you under the Imperius!" Hermione's eyes widened in shock and Draco continued. "Exactly. That hurts so much, to have people indict you of doing that to the person you love more than anything else in the whole world."

Hermione felt her heart flutter and blushed, embarrassed that after nearly twelve years hearing Draco say that still made her feel light and dizzy. Draco chuckled and reached across the table to take Hermione's hand. "I love you 'Mione."

Hermione smiled sweetly, feeling like a teenager all over again and poked her tongue out at Draco. "Love you too Draco."

* * *

"Mr Malfoy, early morning owls." Draco walked into his office to see his secretary holding out a bunch of letters, taking them he pushed open the door with his back and continued into his large airy office. Sitting down behind the large oak desk he leant back in his chair, put his feet up on the table, conjured a large steaming cup of coffee and began reading the letters.

He flicked through countless mundane business letters for about half an hour before he came to a letter that he definitely was not expecting and dropped his third coffee of the morning all over the pristine cream carpet.

_Malfoy,_

_Questions still need to be answered. Come round and see me this afternoon about three. I know you can leave the office. Harry won't be here._

_Ginny Potter._

_Address:_

_Higher Thames House, Marlow._

**A/N:** This chapter is the first of 2 that were part written in my Philosophy and Ethics class at the end of last week – the girl I sit next to, Ana, is HP mad like me and I've been explaining the fic I'm writing and we were coming up with lots of ideas for this chapter and the next one. The whole "my bad thing" was inspired in our philosophy lesson, one guy – Coxy, was throwing me back my chewing gum and missed so he said "my bad" and Ana and I were like that's so something Malfoy would say in this fic, so I wrote that section write there and then when I should have been studying the "body/soul distinction". I 'm so glad to have Ana to help because she makes sure that my plot bunnies don't run away!

Thanks to all my reviewers! Keep 'em coming!


	5. Fighting A Losing Battle

**Disclaimer:** Oops forgot this before - don't own anything except the plot & the kiddies.

**A/N:** _This chapter is dedicated to Ana, who helped right it, Zani who helps me too (reads drafts and tells me what to change), and the look on Adam's face (Ana's boyfriend) when Ana and I were having a overexcited writing moment last week during lunch in the common room._

* * *

Harry walked into his kitchen to see Malfoy lean across to kiss Ginny on the cheek, smirking slightly. "Get away from her!" Harry yelled and instantaneously he had drawn his wand and was aiming at Draco's throat as he pulled Ginny away.

"Still got the old reflexes then Potter?" Draco sneered and Ginny flinched at the look of hate on her husband's face.

Harry ignored him and instead spoke to Ginny. "Gin, love, go into the other room and don't come back in until I say you can." Ginny shook her head at them and walked out, closing the kitchen door behind her.

"Did you want something Potter?" Draco drawled idly and pulled his wand out, twirling it delicately in his finger tips.

"What are you playing at?"

"Clearly not Quidditch." Draco smirked.

"Shut up, Malfoy."

"I was under the impression that you had asked me a question."

"What are you doing here? In my kitchen?"

"I was talking to Ginny. Now I'm being threatened by you."

"Why were you talking to Ginny?"

Draco sighed and leaned back against the counter. "She invited me over. Being the inquisitive woman she is, she wanted to hear my side of the story. Like you, she doesn't trust me, but unlike you, she's a bit more sensible about it."

Harry shrugged off the insult and instead began to glare at Draco even more intensely. "I got my revenge Malfoy. Every single one. Almost. One person slipped out of my clutches."

Draco's eyes began to glint dangerously and he stood up straight again. "Come on then, Potter. I'm here. Have you got it in you?"

"You know I have. I killed Voldemort didn't I?"

Draco nodded and began to roll up his sleeve. "You know what people say? They hate nothing more than a Death Eater who walked free. Well, here I am, son of Voldemort's right hand man. Mark on my arm." He thrust his left forearm forward. "And I'm free but you can't kill me, wouldn't kill me because I'm the one person your best friend loves, and has stuck by for twelve years."

Harry stood in silence as Draco's words hung ominously in the air; Draco smirked again knowing that he had the upper hand.

"So, what did you and Ginny talk about?" Harry asked, trying to calm himself down.

"It was a very interesting conversation actually." Draco paused for affect. "It would seem that you're just not satisfying her."

At that suggestive statement Harry finally lost it and pinned Draco to the floor, one foot holding Draco's wrist just below the Dark Mark. "Do it." Draco hissed. "Kill me." Harry shook with anger, barely able to control his rage.

"Get out! Get out of my fucking house you fucking evil bastard!" Draco pulled himself to his feet and looked Harry straight in the eye.

"You haven't won. You never will." Harry slammed the door behind Draco and stormed over to a cupboard, pulling out a large bottle of firewhisky. Hands shaking with anger he struggled to pour himself a glass before giving into his anger and throwing the glass at the wall. The paint glittered as the shattered glass and whisky ran slowly down the wall. "He's right. I'm fighting a loosing battle. I have been all my life."

Harry looked up, his eyes full of hate still, as Ginny quietly opened the kitchen door. "Oh Harry love…" She ran over and hugged him.

"I thought I told you not to come back in." Harry muttered into her hair as she rested her head on his chest.

"Don't treat me like a child, please. I heard Malfoy leave."

"Sorry." Harry muttered. "God Ginny, even after all this time he can still get to me so badly. I just can't understand why Hermione's with him, he hasn't changed at all."

"Harry. Talking to him helped me understand some things; he loves 'Mione." Harry stiffened. "I know you can't understand that, but he does. Didn't you see how protective of her he was that night at the Leaky Cauldron? Maybe in some ways he hasn't change – like the way he stills taunts you, but the way he feels about Hermione and the Dark Arts has changed Harry, I promise you."

"If he acts like this how can I learn to trust him?"

"Maybe I need to talk to Hermione, or maybe Harry, you could. I bet you haven't seen her since that night, have you?" Harry shook his head. "Well maybe you should. Because otherwise she will struggle to understand your point of view and accept your friendship again."


	6. But You Know That's There

**Disclaimer:** Don't own nowt.

**A/N:** Some bad language in this. If I have time tonight I'll try and reel of a chapter from Hogwarts with the kids, if not it'll be up tomorrow night because I only have 3 lessons at school tomorrow lots of writing time. Thanks for all the reviews - stuff about why Draco wasn't charged or isn't in prison will be explained later on - all in good time.

Hermione smiled to herself as she rubbed shampoo into her wild hair, it was only ever close to tame in the shower. The warm water cascaded over her body and made her skin tingle, she'd always loved showering; it felt like she was purifying herself. Closing her eyes she lost herself in a dream world as she felt soft hands caress her body.

"Draco…"

"Mmmm…" He mumbled from behind her as he kissed her bare shoulder delicately. Hermione began to feel butterflies rise in her stomach.

"When did you get home?"

"Why are you trying to ruin the moment?" He muttered as his hands ran up her inner thighs, parting them slightly. In reply Hermione grabbed one of his hands and moved it slowly up her body, running over her flat stomach. Hermione groaned lightly as his other hand found her most sensitive area and began to work its magic.

"Draco…"

"I love it when you say my name." He groaned into her shoulder.

"Draco…"

"Fuck yeah…"

"DRACO!" Hermione bellowed causing him to bite into her shoulder. "Draco, I'm not trying to get you off here. What's on your arm?"

"My Dark Mark. But you know that's there…" He lifted both her arms above her head in one of his hands and began to massage her breasts. Hermione bit her lip to stop herself from groaning in pleasure, amazing as Draco's hands were she wanted to get to the bottom of this.

"No. Not the Dark Mark. This…" She poked the purple tainted skin and he shouted out in pain. "Bruise."

"Fucking Potter…" Draco muttered as he lowered Hermione's arms.

"What!"

"Yeah…look I'm might have done something slightly stupid." Hermione twisted around in his arms and glared at him.

"What exactly?"

"It's difficult to explain."

"Really…" She reached behind him and turned the water off. "Well, when you're ready to tell me, I'll be in the bedroom." She pushed past him and grabbing a large white towel left the bathroom. Draco hit his arm against the damp tiles.

"Fuck."

Draco picked up a dark blue towel and wrapped it round his waist. He walked into their large bedroom to see Hermione pulling on a navy blue vest top and loose white pyjama bottoms furiously, looking ready to kill. Standing up straight she shook her hair causing water droplets to fly across the room, looking like sparkling diamonds as the light caught them.

"'Mione baby…"

Spinning round she fixed Draco with a death stare. "Yes?" She spat out the word as if it was leaving a disgusting taste in her mouth.

"I'm sorry."

"For what Draco? In case you had forgotten you're yet to explain to me exactly what it is that you've done."

"I haven't forgotten."

"So, are you ready to tell me then?"

Draco sat down on the edge of the bed and held his head in his hands. "I've got to haven't I."

"Draco, I'm not going to let go of the fact you've got a fuck off huge bruise on your arm." He let his head fall back onto the bed and sighed loudly.

"I went round to see Ginny. She owled me saying that she wanted to talk to me. We talked, I explained some things that she wanted to know and then Potter came in just as I was leaving. He freaked out, started threatening me. We had a little chat about the good old times and then I might have just stepped over the line a little too much…"

"What did you say?"

"Implied that Potter wasn't exactly lighting Ginny's fire." Draco mumbled.

Hermione let her head fall into her hands and groaned. "Oh for fuck's sake Draco…"

"Er, yeah. And then I sort of told him to kill me if he had the guts."

"YOU DID WHAT! Draco you're not twelve anymore for crying out loud! You have children! You have a wife! What would I have done if Harry had killed you?"

"But he didn't…" Draco mumbled, blushing slightly.

"But he could easily have done, he hates you enough to kill you. I would bet you your entire fortune that the reason he didn't was because of me."

"_Our _fortune. Exactly, I knew he wouldn't."

"Draco! You couldn't have known. You don't know Harry well enough to say what he would and wouldn't do."

"Keep you friends close but your enemies closer."

"I don't care how right you knew you were, the truth is Draco that you didn't consider my feelings or the feelings of your children."

"Okay maybe I didn't think…"

"Yes, you didn't think…now if you'll excuse me, my head is hurting from trying to comprehend your stupidity and I need to go to sleep. Goodnight Draco." Hermione turned off the lights with a flick of her wand and curled up under the covers

"Night 'Mione, love."

Hermione grunted in reply and Draco rolled his eyes as he stood up to pull on some boxers before sliding under the covers and attempting to put an arm around Hermione who jerked away from him. _Fucked this one right up…_he thought as he drifted into a restless sleep.


	7. In Hermione's Name

**A/N: **Thanks for all the reviews, they're really encouraging. Thanks to the usual suspects in school as well, I did intend to write more in Ethics today but we had an exam essay question to complete in 30mins and then we spent the next 90mins discussing Joseph Fletcher and his love of love. Not sure how long it will take me to get the next few chapters up despite the huge amounts of ideas; although I finish school at 11am tomorrow I'm getting drunk tomorrow night and probably Saturday night as well. And then its off to Paris for three days on Monday. And Amsterdam the week after, but I promise to keep writing and get chapters up as often as possible! Enjoy!

* * *

"Alexander Malfoy – Granger?" Blaise Zabini glanced up at his previously thought dead friend's son as he took the register of the first year potions class.

"Yes, sir."

"Elizabeth Malfoy – Granger?" No reply, silence hung in the echoey dungeons. "Alex, do you know where your sister is?" Blaise caught the worried looking eleven year old's eye as he shook his head nervously – he was so similar to Draco at the same age yet he possessed so many qualities that Draco had never known or at least had the decency to show – humility, honesty and more importantly the ability to love, as he clearly did his sister.

Just as Blaise was about to mark the young girl absent the heavy wood door clanged open and Lissy ran into the dungeon, wild blonde hair flying all around her as she slid to a halt in front of Blaise's desk. "Sorry, I'm late Professor."

"Don't let it happen again." Blaise nodded and continued down the register. Lissy turned to join Alex at their work bench, winking at a grinning James Potter as she did. He alone knew where she had been.

"What's going on with you and Potter?" Alex hissed as Lissy pulled out her Potions making kit and parchments.

"Nothing. Has Zabini given us any instructions yet?"

"No. Why were you late?"

"Got lost."

"Oh, sure. I'm not stupid Liss, you were up to something."

"Mind your own business."

"Lissy!" Alex snapped causing most of the students sat near them to turn and stare at the pair as did Blaise.

"I think you two have disturbed my lesson quite enough today, detention both of you." Alex and Lissy both groaned and gave the professor glaring looks so reminiscent of their father that he nearly laughed in shock.

* * *

Lissy flounced into the Gryffindor common room and threw her bag down on the floor, collapsing onto a sofa with a loud huff. Milla glanced up from her advanced potions and raised an eyebrow at the younger girl. "Something wrong Lissy?"

"Zabini. Made me and Alex clean the entire Potions room without magic. That's house elf work…ugh." Lissy pouted and Milla giggled.

"Why were you in detention anyway?"

"I was late and then Alex shouted at me so he shoved us both in detention, and expects an essay from both of us by tomorrow."

"That was a little harsh."

"I think he has a grudge against us or something. He _always_ watches us and doesn't let us put a toe out of line."

"Strange, he's normally quite relaxed most of the time." Milla's younger brother Ed chimed in. "Maybe you've done something to upset him." He shrugged.

"Yeah, that or he knew your parents and they were enemies…"

* * *

Draco walked lazily down the stairs into the basement, his shirt still unbuttoned as he jabbed his wand tiredly in the direction of a cupboard, a navy blue mug flying out and filling with steaming black coffee as he grabbed some fruit and pulled Lissy's brief letter off the front of the fridge. Sitting down at the table he began to read it as he consumed his meagre breakfast. Scanning the letter he nearly spat out his coffee at his daughter's mention of the potions master. _Zabini was working at Hogwarts?_ Draco chuckled and made a mental note to at the very least write to Blaise as Hermione drifted quietly in the kitchen; her loose red and gold kimono floating around her as she barely looked in Draco's direction, instead quietly pouring milk over some cereal and studiously reading the Daily Prophet.

"Are you going into the office today?" Draco questioned, sensing that he still wasn't in Hermione's good books.

"Yes." Hermione swallowed the remainder of her orange juice. "I have to work on the new batch of Wolfsbane potion." Draco nodded and the rest of the meal was conducted in eerie silence that reminded Draco horribly of meal times at the Manor.

"Accio tie and jacket." He finished dressing and shoved his wand in a pocket. "I'll see you later then." He bent down and kissed Hermione on the cheek before running up to the hallway to apparate. Hermione burst into tears as she heard the crack that meant Draco had left. She hated it when they fell out, normally it was over the stupidest things and they were both to blame but this time Draco had seriously threatened the fragile relationship she had with her once close friends and no matter how much she loved him it was taking a lot of will power not to walk out on him. _Oh don't be so stupid._ She thought to herself as she wiped away the tears with the sleeve of her kimono. _Draco and Harry can't help the way they feel about each other._ Hermione choked hysterically. _But for once would they just grow up and forget about it so that I can have a little peace._

_So many feelings_

_Emotions running away with me_

_And there's no way around it_

_I want things back how they used to be_

Taking a deep breath Hermione stood up and walked purposefully up to their bedroom to dress for work – flared charcoal trousers and a fitted white shirt with a jacket that matched the trousers, high heeled boots completing the chic yet appropriate ensemble. Minutes later she was walking into the development laboratory in the MG Potions office, not bothering to inform Draco that she had arrived.

* * *

Draco leant back in his chair, propping his feet up and swore under his breath. One of the secretaries had told him that Hermione was busy in the labs and she hadn't even bothered to let him know she was there. This wasn't one of those simple mistakes he'd made before, or one of the larger ones, it was going to take a supreme effort on his behalf to make it up to Hermione. Sometimes he couldn't comprehend why she had ever come round to the idea of there ever being a relationship between them…love was a strange thing but it could never solve all their problems.

_I've done other things_

_I have made mistakes_

_Nothing ever smells of roses_

_That rises out of rain_

He smirked slightly as he began to contrive a plan to make good his recent mistakes. Reaching for a quill he began to scribble a quick note to Ginny and Harry, Ron and Lavender. That done he sent two office owls off and called his secretary in.

"Look, Elisa, do you think you could make sure there's a problem here that Hermione has to solve until about eight o'clock this evening? I'm trying to plan something a bit special back home, I've fucked things right up and I need this little favour."

"No problem Mr Malfoy." The young woman smiled and went off to dream up a scheme to keep one of her bosses stuck upstairs for the remainder of the day.

* * *

Harry poked his head round the side of Ron's office, a quizzical expression on his otherwise handsome face. "Ron? Did you just…"

"Get a letter from…"

"Malfoy?"

"Yeah." They both chuckled and Harry sat down opposite Ron. "So…do we go?"

Ron raised his eyebrows and glanced down at the letter again, amazed at what Malfoy had written.

_Harry, Ron, Ginny, Lavender_

_I've screwed up big time and even though I know we can't really get on I want to make the effort for Hermione because if we have anything in common it's loving her._ _I know you can't forgive me, I understand. Even Hermione doesn't forgive me entirely, there was no excuse. But give me a chance to show you why Hermione cares about me. I want to surprise her tonight, come to dinner around seven thirty, someone's going to keep Hermione occupied at the office so I can get everything ready. One chance, please._

_Draco Malfoy,_

_8 Sandringham Square_

_Chelsea_

_London _

"Well?"

"For 'Mione…"


	8. Moving Past Your Past Is Never Easy

**A/N:** Sat down this afternoon between packing for my trip to Paris, getting over a way too large consumption of chocolate liqour whilst dressed as a Death Eater last night and telling a guy friend to stop hitting on me. Oh yeah...and my laptops playing up so I had to edit this in the HTML mode, so it might not come out too well. Nevertheless, I'm quite fond of this chapter which takes it title coincidently from the dedication of my Mum's boyfriends latest poetry book: _To Clare, and hers and mine, moving past your past is never easy..._ Which is something I believe so strongly in, I'm young but I have a huge past and huge issues with it. C'est la vie Enjoy the chapter, review like mad, have a good few days and I hope to get a few more chapters up as soon as I get back from Paris on Thursday morning.

Draco chuckled softly as he looked down on the basement from the stairs; the doorbell had just wrung announcing either Potter or Weasley's arrival, the large table had a ring of small candles in the middle and various other candles were dotted throughout the room creating a cosy feel despite the size. The bell rang again and Draco ran up the remaining stairs into the hallway.

"Do you think he's having second thoughts?" Ginny chuckled as they stood on the doorstep of Draco and Hermione's London townhouse.

"Wouldn't surprise me if he did…" Ron muttered and Harry rolled his eyes. Lavender shivered, it was a cool night and standing on the doorstep for over five minutes wasn't exactly helping. Just as Harry leant in again to ring the doorbell there was a click from inside and the large dark blue door was pulled open to reveal Draco smiling slightly.

"Evening Malfoy." Harry nodded as Draco pulled open the door to reveal the large hallway and allow them into the house. Ron regarded Draco with a look of scorn as he passed him and Draco took a deep breath into to stop himself from snapping at Hermione's friend.

Ginny gazed around in awe at the grand hallway of the Malfoy home, the high walls were painted a pale burgundy colour and the floor was mahogany, towards the rear of the rectangular room a grand marble staircase curved away to the rooms upstairs. "You can leave your coats in there…" Draco pushed open a white door into a small cloakroom area and waited as they all removed their outer garments. "I won't give you the tour, I'm sure Hermione would rather do that. She's rather fond of the house…"

"I can see why." Lavender mumbled as she peered through an open doorway into the beautiful drawing room.

"Where is Hermione?" Ron questioned as Draco led them down the hallway, past the main staircase and down a spiral staircase into the basement.

"This is like a whole house of its own." Ginny commented to Lavender and they giggled as they sat down on the deep red corduroy sofas.

"Hermione's delayed at work." Draco winked. "This is a surprise; I've been such an ass over the last few days. I've got some serious making up to do…"

"Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say we've got to try and put the past behind us. It was a particularly messy past and I think we need to leave the prejudices behind, otherwise we'll be back where we were fifteen years ago."

"And no one wants to be back there." Mumbled Draco, astounded that it was Ron who was making this statement, or offer of peace.

"Exactly. We've learnt from it and we need to bring up our children in a different environment to the hostile one we attended Hogwarts in. Draco…" Draco's jaw dropped at the use of his first name. "I can't say I'm sorry for everything that happened because I'd be lying, but I want to say I'm willing to move on. Honestly." He held out his hand to Draco who took it willingly, laying to rest more of the ghosts of his past. Harry followed Ron, and Ginny and Lavender received brief but meaningful kisses on the cheek.

"Now that's sorted, I want to know exactly why you, Draco Malfoy, champion of pure wizard blood, have got a television in your basement." Harry raised an eyebrow and Draco laughed as he began opening a few bottles of red wine.

"Surprising isn't it." He handed Ginny and Lavender a glass of wine each. "Well you know how persuasive Hermione is, and she wanted some of her Muggle creature comforts…and I must admit, it is rather wonderful to have something to distract the kids with when you've got work to do." He raised his eyebrows jokingly and passed Harry and Ron wine. "Because lets face it, the twins are a rather annoying mix of Hermione and me; they're as clever as her and as cheeky as me. It difficult to say the least…"

"For Merlin's sake!" Hermione yelled, her voice ringing through the empty offices. Some idiot had managed to cancel the order of Boomslang skin, and it was needed for several of their high selling potions. And all the other wholesalers seemed to have run out, and this was all after one of the interns had spilt a batch of Veritaserum all over the production laboratory, contaminating numerous other potions in the process. Not being able to call Draco and complain wasn't helping either. She slammed her fist down on the desk just as an owl shot in through the open window.

_Mrs. Malfoy,_

_Apologies for the misinformation, the order was not cancelled after all. We will be sending you a consignment of Boomslang skin shortly as well as some complimentary lacewings. _

_Sincerely,_

_Aryanna Forthwick_

"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant." Hermione muttered sarcastically as she waved her wand around frantically causing various objects on her desk to fly into drawers. "Maybe I will finally get home now…" She muttered slamming the door behind her and stalking into the foyer of the offices so that she could apparate home.

"Draco, I'm hooooo…." Hermione yelled as she walked down the stairs, trailing off as she saw her husband laughing along with her best friends. "Merlin…I'm must be hallucinating…" She mumbled as Draco laughed at something Ron said before getting up and walking over to Hermione, handing her a glass of wine and kissing her briefly on the lips as she stood completely still at the bottom of the stairs, stunned at the image before her.

"What's going on?" She mumbled as Draco led her over to the sofas.

"I'm sorry." Draco whispered in her ear as the others stood up to greet Hermione, all wearing cheerful grins as they hugged her.

"I can't believe this." Hermione laughed as they sat down again. "I mean, you guys sat perfectly happy in the house of Malfoy. Whoa…"

"Well, we've decided that no matter how hard it is to move past your past, we needed to do it for the sake of our friendship." Harry smiled warmly and raised his glass. "To friendship."

"To friendship." They all echoed as a buzzer went off in the kitchen.

"That'll be dinner," Draco mumbled and shot off in the direction of the oven.

"He can cook?" Ginny whispered in Hermione's ear.

"Yes, long story, but he isn't too bad either." Hermione giggled as they got up to walk across the table where Draco was laying a large pasta bake in the centre. "Now, I want to know about all of your children." She laughed as they all piled the delicious smelling food onto their plates and tucked in.

"Well…if you don't mind me going first, Lavender." Ginny winked. "Harry and I have got three, the eldest, James, has just started at Hogwarts. I believe he's become quite friendly with one of yours…"

"That'd be Lissy, she's in Gryffindor. Alex is in Slytherin." Draco nodded.

"Makes sense. Lily's eight, and the cutest little thing ever. Sirius is five, and shaping up to be quite like his namesake." Harry laughed and Ron and Hermione gave knowing grins.

"And what about you two?" Hermione turned to Ron and Lavender.

"Anna's with James and Lissy in Gryffindor, she's quite shy but I'm sure she'll come out of her shell once she settles in. Remus is seven and his favourite game is winding up young Sirius." Lavender gave Ron a shy smile and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "What about you guys, just the two?"

"Yes, thank Merlin. They're more than enough to occupy our time." Draco said loudly and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Alexander Draco, and Elizabeth Hermione…Malfoy – Granger…they're quite a combination." Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Imagine the worst of me and Draco, that's the worst of it. And the best of us, and you have a rather interesting time of it." Said Hermione as Ginny gave Draco a thumbs up for the food. "Ron, Ginny, how are your parents? And the whole family?" Hermione questioned prompting an absolute torrent of information as the evening passed pleasantly in a whirl of wine and amusing conversation.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for this evening love." Hermione spoke softly as she and Draco sat curled up on the large cream sofa in their drawing room, watching the flames of the fire dance in front of them.

"I needed to do something; we couldn't have gone up arguing with each other constantly. It would've meant the end of one thing, either our marriage or your friendships. And I don't think either of those were worth sacrificing over the events of the past." Draco pulled Hermione closer to him and kissed the top of her head. "I noticed that you didn't mention that the children also had Lucius and Narcissa as their middle names."

"I can't quite have seen them understanding that." Hermione sighed. "I didn't want to ruin the evening, it was so perfect Draco. You made me so happy tonight…"

"I can make you a whole lot happier…" Draco mumbled as he lowered his head to kiss Hermione.

_I like the sound of my own voice  
I didn't give anyone else a choice  
An intellectual tortoise  
Racing with your bullet train  
_  
_Some people get squashed crossing the tracks  
Some people got high rises on their backs  
I'm not broke but you can see the cracks  
You can make me perfect again_

All because of you  
All because of you  
All because of you  
I am...I am


	9. It Was The French

**A/N :** Mucho thanks to all my reviewers, what better way to come back from holiday to find those waiting on my laptop for me ! Yay! I got wonderfully inspired in Paris and this chapter was written sat on the balcony of my hotel room looking out at the Eiffel Tower – what better place to write! The end section, in the Potions classroom, was written at Charles de Gaulle Airport very early yesterday morning. I would have had this chapter up a lot earlier but isn't letting me edit in the simple mode so I decided to come down here to my Mum's boyfriends where there is wireless and its still not working! Anyway, enjoy the chapter and review like mad, s'il vous plait!

---

"Eh, bien. A quelle date?" Draco walked into Hermione's office to see her facing the fire talking to someone via the Floo Network, in French. Leaning against the doorframe he watched with a slight smile on his face as she conversed fluently in the foreign language.

"Ouais. A le premiere novembre. Au revoir Claude."

"Au revoir Madame Malfoy."

The face in the fire disappeared and Hermione turned back to her desk, flicking through files and making some notes. Draco was about to cough to announce his presence when Hermione spoke to him without looking up from her paperwork. "Afternoon, Draco. We're going to Paris."

"Eh?"

"That's horribly uncouth Draco, I thought your parents brought you up better."

He winced. "Pardon."

"Paris, love. To sign a deal with Hopital Magique. I thought we could make a small holiday of it. What do you think?"

Draco grinned, clearly thinking of Paris' romantic connotations. Hermione caught his eye and she too broke into a sly grin, within seconds Draco had her pinned against the desk, crushing countless pieces of parchment as his lips devoured hers. "Draco…office…not…good…idea." Hermione mumbled against him as he began a path down her neck and collarbone.

Pulling away he sank into Hermione's chair, breathing slightly heavily. He pulled her towards him, hands holding the backs of her bare knees. "How much work do you have left for today?" Draco raised an eyebrow and stroked Hermione's leg with one finger sending shivers up her spine.

"Well…nothing important…I suppose it could wait…" She trailed off as Draco jumped to his feet and, putting an arm around her waist, began to walk towards the door.

"It can wait, we're going home." He kicked her office door shut and locked it with his want. Hermione had an amused smiled on her face throughout this. Clearly Draco needed to get laid, and fast. Hermione loved his blatant honesty about this, it was unashamed and downright sexy; a complete turn on. She smothered a giggle as the receptionist winked knowingly at them and then they were in the hall of their house, Draco tugging his shirt off furiously and pinning her against the wall. Hermione rolled her head back in please; this was better than paperwork any day.

"It was the French." Draco said clearly as he stroked Hermione's wild hair, they were drenched in sweat and had the subtle after glow of a particularly wonderful love making session as they lay entwined in their bed.

---

"Excuse me?"

"The French. I was horny anyway, but then you were speaking French to that guy and it pushed me over the edge. Its so goddamn sexy."

"Ah Draco, chere, tu aime ca?" Hermione's eyes glittered dangerously.

"Oh yeah." He mumbled into her chest.

"Bon. Parce que c'est tout pour la journee." She giggled and jumped out of bed, grabbing her kimono and running away down the stairs meaning the exact opposite of what she had just said, knowing that Draco loved the thrill of the chase.

---

"Have you heard from Mum and Dad lately?" Alex questioned as he and Lissy sat by the lake enjoying the Autumn sunshine. Lissy shivered slightly and pulled her Gryffindor scary tighter round her neck.

"No, but then I haven't written. Have you?"

Alex laughed. "Take a guess. Do you think we should…" He trailed off as they saw a familiar figure walking briskly towards the main entrance of Hogwarts, a long black cloak billowing behind a tall blonde haired man.

"Dad!" They cried out together and jumped up, running towards him, both wondering what their father was doing at their school. "Dad, wait, wait!" Alex bellowed as they got closer, the man turned around and his face broke into a huge grin and they reached him, engulfing him in excited hugs.

"What are you doing here Dad?" Alex questioned as they began walking towards the school once more.

"Well, in her letter Lissy mentioned a Professor Zabini…"

"I thought you said you hadn't been in contact with them?" Alex interrupted, turning to Lissy.

"It was like three weeks ago that I wrote." Lissy waved her brother off. "Go on, Dad."

"Yes well, Lissy wrote and mentioned Zabini."

"I can stand him, he hates us doesn't he Liss?" Alex cut in again and Draco frowned.

"Alex, if you keep interrupting it will be Christmas before I finish what I'm saying."

Alex blushed and hung his head. "Yeah, sorry." He muttered.

"Right. Well, I was good friends with a guy called Zabini when I was younger and I did some research and it turns out the same guy is teaching you Potions. I thought I'd pop in and surprise…"

"Fucking hell, Draco Malfoy is that you?" Blaise's voice rung out across the Entrance Hall which was luckily devoid of any students – the twins aside.

"Blaise!" Draco grinned and hugged his friend. "How's it going?"

"I thought you were dead mate!"

"Yeah well, a lot of people did…" Draco muttered as Alex and Lissy shuffled awkwardly. "Al, Liss, meet me down here at six. I've got permission from McGonagall to take you guys into Hogsmeade for dinner." The twins grinned and ran off, Lissy up the stairs twaords Gryffindor tower, Alex down to the dungeons.

"My office?" Blaise questioned and Draco nodded, following Blaise down the familiar path to the dungeons. "So what happened Draco, where'd you go? Some of us were kind of worried."

Draco raised a questioning eyebrow, doubting that any of his "friends" would have been concerned with anything but their own safety after Voldemort's downfall.

"Okay, fair enough. But certainly it became a concern after you failed to reappear." Blaise responded to Draco's facial expression.

"I disappeared. I had to. I was the fucking son of Voldemort's right hand man; I was the fucking Death Eater who'd brought about Dumbledore's demise. I was a wanted man, Blaise; if I'd stayed I'd be dead or at the very least rotting in Azkaban."

"You've got a point…so why are you back now, walking around like a free man?"

"Well after ten years the fuss had died down a bit hadn't it? We were able to begin negotiations to clear my name, behind closed doors of course."

"We?"

"Oh, Hermione and I."

"Granger?"

"Yeah, but that's another story entirely."

"Okay."

"Anyway, they gathered testimony from various people and came to the conclusion that it was due to my father's influence and later incarceration after Voldemort's initial return that I became a Death Eater. After his death, I was no longer a risk."

"Why wasn't this public?"

"I think the Ministry didn't want to disturb the peaceful atmosphere that had settled after all the trials had finished. And I shoved a bit of gold their way."

"In true Malfoy style." Blaise smirked.

"Indeed. Basically everything's fine and dandy now, except I hear a certain professor's been giving my children a bit of a hard time." Draco winked and cracked his knuckles menacingly.

Blaise chuckled. "You've got to treat Malfoy's carefully."

"Yeah but Alex is convinced you hate them and Lissy's really suspicious of you."

"Maybe I'll ease up on them a bit then but they're so clever and too goddamn cheeky for their own good, I've got to keep an eye on them. Lovely pair though, they've certainly got your talent when it comes to Potions."

Draco smiled. "Fair enough mate, I trust you to make sure they keep out of any real trouble." A look passed between the two men that suggested complete trust and Draco was glad that there was someone to watch over the twins lest any forgotten danger from the past should creep up on them.

---

Blaise watched the twins carefully as they worked in silence on separate potions. Lissy biting her lip as she stirred her perfect concoction, Alex's brow was furrowed in concentration as he studied his textbook. Blaise considered the previous day's discussion with Draco, he got the distinct impression that Draco wasn't telling him everything but then Draco had always kept the truth well hidden beneath the polished Malfoy façade. He couldn't believe that the situation with the Ministry of Magic was as simple as he made it out to be. Blaise remembered the way the Death Eater's were tried after Voldemort's defeat; often the trials were mere formalities as the evidence was overwhelmingly conclusive, each execution or imprisonment had been made public, the Ministry keen to gain support after the dark days. He found it difficult to believe that the Ministry would have given up the chance to make it clear they had won – and Draco's activities had won him notoriety, even if it was for all the wrong reasons.

"Sir, Professor…it's the end of class…" Lissy Malfoy – Granger had one eyebrow raised and was looking at him as if he had grown three heads. Glancing around Blaise saw that the first years had packed up and were hovering hesitantly near the door.

"Yes, alright. Class dismissed." Blaise frowned and watched the twins walk out, they already carried themselves with the imposing Malfoy air. He rubbed his temples and chuckled out how many forgotten memories of the past that Draco's reappearance had thrown up, but most of all Blaise wondered why Draco was free, at what price had he escaped the Dementors?


	10. A Byword For Mischief

**A/N:** Mucho thanks for the reviews everyone! Rattled off this chapter this afternoon (wrote part of it on the flight back from Paris) and here it is in all its glory. I've also started two more stories - Torrent (a slightly Dark, slightly angsty, sex/drugs Draco and Pansy fic) and Further Education (a fun post Hogwarts Draco/Hermione fic) which you can go and enjoy now as well! huggles to you all.

"Sirius, no!" Ginny screeched as her youngest son picked up her wand and began waving it around causing red sparks to fly around the kitchen like firecrackers.

"Here, I'll watch him whilst you finish making lunch." Hermione offered and pulled the young boy onto her lap so he could draw on the parchment that rested on the table. Ginny and Harry's daughter Lily sat at the breakfast bar reading a book quietly, Ginny had explained that she wasn't normally this quiet – it was probably because Hermione was there and she was unsure of the new visitor.

"Thanks 'Mione. It must be very quiet at your place now the twins have gone to Hogwarts, I mean, considering the size of your house."

"Yeah, Draco's certainly making the most of the privacy though, believe me." Hermione winked and Ginny giggled.

"You know I was wondering why do you guys like in Chelsea and not infamous Malfoy Manor?"

"For that reason. I think there were way too many bad memories for Draco. And you should see it Gin, its huge, excessively so. Even Narcissa doesn't spend much time there now either, she has an apartment in Monte Carlo. We go there occasionally, to escape the city, but I don't regard it fondly."

"And how is Narcissa? Something tells me she wouldn't have been entirely happy with Draco marrying you." Ginny raised an eyebrow and regarded Hermione thoughtfully.

"Well no, the pureblood snob in her hates it. You should see her around my parents, if it wasn't so annoying it would be funny. But the mother in her sees her son, who she adores to the point of worship, is happy with me and for that reason she accepts is." Hermione shrugged and sipped her blackcurrant tea, she'd been positively delighted to find her favourite drink in Ginny and Harry's Marlow home, almost waiting for her as Ginny had stated categorically that neither she nor Harry drank the stuff. "How long have you guys lived in Marlow then?"

"About seven years. We used to live down the road in Cookham but Harry saw this house and fell in love with it. And I love Marlow, only problem is that's it's a little far from Catchpole." Ginny said, referring to Ottery St Catchpole – the village near the Weasley family home.

At that point Sirius decided that he'd been ignored for long enough now and seized hold of a clump of Hermione's hair. She grimaced as his sticky hands tugged fiercely.

"Sirius! No!" Ginny disentangled her unruly son from Hermione and sat him on the floor where he sat chuckling. "Oh god 'Mione, I'm so sorry."

"He's handful isn't he." Hermione muttered as she touched her scalp gingerly, it felt as if half the hair had been ripped out, and judging by the bunch Sirius was clutching she wasn't far off. Just then the doorbell rang and Ginny smiled apologetically before running off to get it, Hermione could hear Ginny greet someone fondly before Sirius made some indeterminable noise, fixing him with a glare Draco would have been proud he shut up immediately and Hermione smiled proudly as Ginny returned along with her eldest brother Bill.

"Afternoon Hermione," He nodded before turning to ruffle Sirius hair. "Hello Sirius, hello Lily."

"Hello Uncle Bill." The young girl grinned, obviously fond of her uncle whose eyes had suddenly widened.

"Wait a second…HERMIONE!"

"Ah yes…" Ginny shifted uncomfortably.

"Hello Bill." Hermione smiled meekly. She scanned his face and noticed that the scars Greyback had given him were significantly faded now and he still had his earring firmly in place.

"I'm assuming that this is a horribly long story which Ginny will be only to happy to convey to me at some other more appropriate time and for the time being I will be satisfied with a simple, how are you Hermione?"

She laughed slightly as Ginny handed them both a plate of pasta salad. "I'm sure Ginny will be only happy to explain. But yes for the time being, I'm perfectly well."

"Any children?" Bill raised an eyebrow and gulped down some pumpkin juice.

"Yes, twins. Just started at Hogwarts."

"Dare I enquire as to the father?" Hermione blushed slightly and stared at her pasta salad, Sirius giggled as he began climbing up onto his uncle's lap.

"Draco Malfoy." Hermione replied and the silence was only punctuated by Lily turning the page of her book and Sirius' mad chuckles as he pulled apart a loose hem on Bill's robes.

"Ah, I can see why it's best for an explanation to be given." He nodded, respecting Hermione's shyness about the topic, she smiled weakly and concentrated on her salad as Ginny and Bill discussed family news, she still felt horribly detached from the people she'd once called her best friends.

---

_Whenever I'm down_

_I call on you my friend_

_A helping hand you lend_

_In my time of need_

_Whenever I'm down_

_I call on you my friend_

_I call on you my friend_

Hermione perched on the edge of one of the dark wood chairs that sat by the pool, it was evening and so the warm room was lit by blue lights creating an eerie effect. Draco was swimming in the pool and had yet to notice her presence. He lifted himself out of the water on the opposite side of the pool and she could see his muscles rippling in the moonlight, his pale skin marked only by the tattoo of a lion and dragon intertwined on his shoulder blade. She could still remember the day he'd had the tattoo done, the day of their wedding. They'd been walking through the small town in Bali and come across a tattoo artist in the bustling market place, Draco had explained what he wanted and the tattoo was half done before Hermione had even realized what was going on. She chuckled at the memory of the look of pain on Draco's face and he turned around, spotting her for the first time.

"Evening, love. How long have you been there?"

"Not long." He shook his hair out vigorously and it stood out on end, he smiled softly and walked over join Hermione, stepping over the chair so that she was sat between his damp legs. "Draco, you're going to ruin my jeans." She laughed and he grabbed his wand off the low table by the chair and quickly transfigured her jeans and white cashmere jumper into a deep red bikini.

"Ah, would you look at that, you came dressed for the occasion." He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his head on her shoulder. "What's up love?"

"I was thinking about how much I've missed while we were away."

"I think 'away' is an understatement."

She ignored him. "I was round at Ginny's today and Bill came over, they were taking about family stuff and I realised how well I used to know them all, and now I don't know anything about them…" She choked back a sob and Draco held her tighter.

"Love, I didn't know them all that well and even I can tell that they haven't changed. Sure you've missed a lot but you'll catch up and don't think the fun's going to stop now you're back. Think of all the good times ahead…they'll be so much you can share with them. People don't beat the Dark Lord together and then forget about it love, you'll always be close to them."

"I know you're right Draco, it's just hard. And half the time I'm worried someone's going to come after you…"

He shuddered but pressed a finger to her lips. "Sshhh love, its fine. We're fine. No one's going to take me away from you, ever." He lifted a hand from her lap and kissed the two rings that sat on her finger, Hermione felt a shiver run up her spine and twisted round so that she could cling onto Draco, as if afraid that some dark unknown force would arrive at any moment and take him away from her.

_All I know, is everything is not as its sold_

_But the more I grow, the less I know_

_And I have lived so many lives_

_Though I'm not old_

_And the more I see the less I grow_

_The fewer the seeds the more I sow_

_Then I see you standing there_

_Wanting more from me_

_And all I can do is try._

---

"James, you prat." Lissy sighed as he knocked over the chessboard where she and Anna had been enjoying a particularly raucous game of wizard's chess.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going…" He mumbled, sitting down next to Anna on the sofa.

"Yes, we can tell that. Idiot." Anna mumbled under her breath as Lissy lay on her stomach, fishing for pawns under the armchair opposite.

"I said I'm sorry, okay." He scowled and turned away from his cousin who proceeded to flop onto the floor beside Lissy.

"Lissy, I don't think there's anymore under here…" Anna whispered in her ear, watching Lissy's searching arm.

"Yeah, I know that. I'm just trying to make James feel bad, that was a really good game." She giggled conspiratorially and Anna rolled her eyes, she'd spent the last eleven years bickering with James, she didn't realise that other people wanted in on the act as well.

Suddenly the girls felt someone grasp their ankles and found they were being dragged back into daylight by a grinning Milla and Jake. "What are you doing two doing under there?" Milla questioned as the girls sat up, cross legged on the floor.

"Looking for chess pieces." Lissy held out her hands which were full of the black and white wriggling men.

"Oh, I see. And why were they under the sofa?" Jake raised an eyebrow. Sitting down next to his James on the sofa, Milla was already seated in a large armchair, her legs curled up under her.

"James…" Anna and Lissy echoed together. Jake sighed; seemingly the names James or Lissy were becoming a byword for anything that went wrong in Gryffindor tower that year.


	11. Pints of Mead, Pints of Tears

**A/N:**Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, and its been a struggle to do that - I've got minor writer's block and even Ana couldn't help much either. I wrote most of this in Physics today and would have written in Chemistry but I found out I got a U (ungradeable) in my first modular exam which was a bit of a bummer. Nothing I can't rectify though...Chem is my best subject and I should be getting straight A's. All your reviews cheer me up immensely though! Thanks! Hehe I'm keeping schtum on James & Lissy, but people, they're 11...11! Not 17! LOL. Suggestions and critiscisms would be most welcome at the moment, and if you can review me with any ideas or comments before 7.45am GMT tomorrow it would be most helpful as I would love to do some quality writing whilst i'm in Amsterdam. Same applies to all my stories - sorry I haven't got time to get the next chapter of Further Education up with all the jetsetting. ( I'm back on Monday so take care everyone and happy reading! Ciao. 

"Draco…" Blaise questioned lightly – they were sat in the Three Broomsticks enjoying a few pints of mead.

"Yeah?"

"I don't believe you."

Draco raised his eyebrows, he knew what Blaise was referring to but didn't want to believe that his friend would question him about it. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I don't believe that cock and bull story you told me about why you're sat here free, getting a fair few odd looks believe me."

"Ironic, really." Draco smirked.

"What?"

"You just said 'believe me', when you won't believe what I'm saying." Draco chuckled.

"Draco, I'm not stupid. The Ministry would never let someone off that easy, there was no proof you'd changed sides."

"I didn't change sides."

"Okay okay, there was no proof you weren't going to go back to the old ways. They know who you are Draco; they know how powerful you are and they know what you were capable of."

"No, fuck you Blaise. You don't know what I'm capable of, you have no fucking idea." Draco raged, what Blaise had said had caught a nerve and he had stood up suddenly. "The things I have done to clean my family name, to keep my children from growing up without a father, yes you're right I lied to you. Well, technically I didn't lie; everything I told you was true. I just missed out a few details…"

"I was one of your closest friends, Draco…"

"Fuck that. You'd never understand. What I had to do burns deep inside me every day, and I don't want mindless busy bodies bringing it up again. You wouldn't understand, Blaise. You couldn't." Draco spat and stormed out of the pub, more than a few customers watching him go with intrigued looks.

"Try me." Blaise muttered bitterly and downed the rest of his pint of mead.

"FUCK!" Draco raged as he slammed open the huge doors of the Malfoy Manor, walking into the echoing entrance hall. "Why the fuck can't life ever be simple?" He grabbed a priceless vase from beside the large fireplace in the grand drawing room he had entered and flung it at the portrait of his father, splitting the canvas as he did so. "Why the fuck did you have to destroy my life?" He shouted and threw another antique at it. "BASTARD!" He glared viciously at the portrait but it continued to smirk down at him.

"Do you have any idea what you have put me through? The shit that your fucked up ideas about the world got me into? It was all your fault, because you fucked up on your mission I got dragged into it. I became a tool of revenge and it destroyed my life, and the life of the woman you loved." Draco collapsed onto his knees in front of the portrait. "Because you did love her, you tried to pretend that you didn't but you did, and it broke her heat that you never told her. You selfish fuck. It was always about you, you and the fucking Malfoy family name. Fuck you..." Draco trailed off, breathless, and a single tear slid down his face. He choked. "Fuck you…"

Blaise stared into the fire in his office; he'd been staring at it for hours, ignoring the piles of marking on his desk. He couldn't understand why Draco was so protective of the truth; could his ticket to freedom be that bad? Blaise couldn't comprehend what could possibly that awful, that devastating or disgusting that Draco would want to hide it from everyone. Surely if it was something that had got him out of trouble it would be something to be proud of…Blaise shook his head and blinked suddenly. He could swear he had just seen someone in the fireplace, someone that looked awfully like… "Granger?" Hermione's face smiled meekly and Blaise's eyes opened wide in shock.

"Evening, Blaise. Do you mind if I…?"

"No, no, go ahead." Blaise nodded and seconds later Hermione was stepping out onto the cold stone floor and brushing ash off her jeans. "Please, have a seat." He gestured to the chair next to his and Hermione collapsed into it. "Granger…Hermione, what's wrong?"

"Its Draco."

"Oh."

"Yes. I don't know where he is, he's not in the office and he hasn't come home. I flooed the manor and the house elves said they hadn't seen him. I know he said he was going to come and see you in Hogsmeade do you know where…?"

"He stormed out. We had an argument." Blaise said shortly, avoiding Hermione's questioning gaze.

"You did? What about? Please Blaise; it might give me some clue as to what he's done or where he's gone…"

Blaise sighed. "The other day, Draco came to see me and explained how he was free – but I didn't believe him, he skirted round the truth and I could see behind his story. I always have been able to tell when Draco is telling the entire truth or not. So today, I questioned him and he blew up completely…hey, what's wrong?" Silent tears had started to slip down Hermione's cheeks.

"Its just…I always knew this was going to happen, this was why I didn't want to come back…I didn't want to face this, I always knew that the past would catch up with Draco and I, I knew it would make things unbearable."

"Hey, Hermione it doesn't have to be like this…" Blaise sensed a chance to dig for information whilst Hermione had her guard down, he hated himself for it but he needed to know what was going on. "Can it possibly be that bad?"

"Oh Merlin yes….Draco can never forgive himself, he did it for me and the children but he can never forgive himself…it may have ended some of his family's pain but it caused so much and always will. Blaise, you cannot understand the guilt he has to deal with day after day. Its killing him, deep inside."

"You know, it might help him if he told someone. Other than you…because no one can help him if they don't know what's wrong..."

"Because Blaise, Draco was tortured, tortured beyond belief…" Hermione choked on her tears, unaware of what she was saying. "And then…then he had to kill…" Hermione's whole body shook with a silent sob; she couldn't bear to make a noise.

Blaise rubbed Hermione's back soothingly, hoping to get more information out of her but she was beyond speech and stood, her hand covering her eyes. "I'm sorry Blaise, I didn't mean to break down…like this…I should go home and wait for Draco…I'm sorry…"

"No, I'm sorry Hermione…I'm sorry that Draco doesn't trust me enough to tell me…"


	12. Now We Are Free

**A/N:** Yay! The edit/preview simple mode page is working again so the page breaks have returned! JeeJ! My concept of what the Malfoy Manor looks like is a beautiful stately home in England called Keddleston Hall, google it for more information or pictures. Thanks for all your reviews and encouragement. Enjoy...

* * *

Hermione clambered out of the fireplace in their basement and nearly shrieked in shock as she saw one of the house elves from the Manor stood, hands clasped behind her back. "Mistress Hermione?" The house elf looked concerned, which wasn't particularly surprising considering the state of Hermione.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Mistress Hermione should come to the Manor. Master Draco is in a bad state, he needs Mistress Hermione's help."

"Is he ill?" Hermione ran her hands through her already out of control hair.

"Not technically, but Miss should come quickly."

"Okay." Hermione turned to pick up more floo powder but was stopped by the house elf tugging on her sweater.

"Master Draco had shut down the floo connection. You can only apparate to the gates."

"The gates!" Hermione groaned in exasperation but disapparated with a crack, reappearing in front of the imposing wrought iron gates of the Malfoy Manor. She tapped the gates with her wand and they slid open, Hermione glanced up at the vast country house as she walked briskly up the long driveway. The house was beautiful, there was no denying it, the huge colonnaded section and the entirely symmetrical wings created a delightful image. Hermione ran up one of the sweeping stone staircases to find one of the house elves holding the high doors open for her.

"Where is Draco?" Hermione asked, slightly breathless from her run up to the house.

"Master Draco is in the main drawing room Mistress Hermione."

Hermione nodded and walked over to the doors, she placed one hand on it, composing herself slightly before pushing it open to reveal Draco curled up on the floor, shaking. The room was a complete mess, everything that could be smashed was smashed and as she got closer to her husband she could hear him muttering under his breath.

"Draco, Draco…its Hermione." She knelt beside him and placed a tender hand on his green polo shirt clad back. "Draco…"

Draco choked slightly. "What have I done Hermione? How can I live with myself? The Ministry knew this was going to happen didn't they…fucking bastards, they wanted this to happen. Kill two birds with one stone. But how can I…"

"Draco, quiet. I know this is hard, of course I do." Hermione moved round so that she was sat cross legged in front of Draco, his head fell in her lap and she stroked his hair tenderly. "Draco…you know in a way you did him a favour."

He looked livid. "You fucking bitch! How can you suggest that killing my own father is doing him a favour? You cold, callous, heartless…"

"Draco! If you hadn't killed him, where would he have ended his life? Stuck in Azkaban going slowly mad. At least he's not in pain anymore." Draco looked up and a look of dawning comprehension crossed his face. Hermione nodded and continued to speak. "Did you never wonder why your mother never seemed that upset?"

"Are you joking 'Mione? She was heartbroken…"

"Yes but she was anyway. After Lucius died she seemed more at peace. Of course she was heartbroken Draco; her son had to kill his father and her husband. If that's not enough to destroy someone then I don't know what is but she saw that Lucius wouldn't be suffering anymore."

"He told me that." Draco's voice cracked. "They let me speak to him before I…before I killed him. He understood, I didn't think he would. He never showed much compassion for me so I didn't think he would understand what I was prepared to do for my children. But he said he did understand. Azkaban had changed him, he said his only regret was that pride kept him from showing his love for me and that he'd never get to see the twins. He told me that I had to do it, to make up for everything he'd never given me or could give Alex and Lissy. He told me that I did the right think in marrying you. But 'Mione he didn't even know he was a grandfather or that I was married until that day but he gave me his blessing, and then he…he told me to do it, told me I was setting him free from the hell he'd created for himself. I killed him and he understood."

"Why did you never tell me this before?"

"I was in denial that what he had said wasn't true and honest, I thought maybe I was mad or he was. But now I understand and I'm free. I'll never be truly free but I suddenly understand what he died for and I need to free myself of the guilt to honour his memory."

* * *

"Ginny this is great…" Hermione smiled warmly at her friend as they sat eating dinner in Ginny and Harry's kitchen with Draco, Harry, Lily and Sirius. It was obvious that Hermione and Draco had come round for a reason so the atmosphere was slightly stiff and uncomfortable, in fact little conversation other than nervous small talk and the chatter of the children had been exchanged.

Hermione laid down her knife, looked at Draco and he nodded, his eyes showing nerves. "Guys, we didn't just come here to enjoy Ginny's cooking tonight. We have to tell you something, no one else knows except us and Narcissa."

"Its do with how Draco got free isn't it?" Harry took a sip of his wine and nodded. "Go on."

Ginny turned to the children and spoke quietly, knowing that what was about to be revealed was not for young ears. "Lily, take Sirius into the playroom, please. I'll bring some ice cream in for you in a bit." The young girl slid off her chair and took her brother's hand, leading him away from the adults.

Draco watched the door close firmly behind them before resting his hands on the table and beginning to speak, his voice low and dangerously quiet. "The Ministry didn't want to let me go once I'd given myself up. I spent three weeks locked in a cell before they decided to have some fun and torture me. It wasn't that bad, no worse than I suffered at the hands of Voldemort, but it was the situation. I didn't know if I'd ever see Hermione or Alex and Lissy again," Hermione gripped Draco's leg under the table. "I finally broke about a month later and told them I'd do anything, anything to see my family again. Of course, they'd had long enough to think up something horrific that would scar me for life." Draco took a deep breath and reached for Hermione's hand, his palms were sweaty as he relived the horrors of his past.

"They told me that to prove that I was truly no longer loyal to Voldemort and the Death Eater's I would have to kill my own father."

There was a sharp intake of breath from Harry and Ginny. "You killed Lucius Malfoy?"

Draco hung his head. "My family means everything to me, everything. I would do anything to protect the honour of my family name and that includes making sure my father died for a reason, he messed up his life but in death he saved mine."

"Malfoy pride." Harry breathed.

"Yes. The Ministry thought they'd beaten us, and for the last three years I thought they had too, but they haven't. The family has survived, and stronger than ever."

"I used to think you were weak," Ginny said quietly, blushing slightly. "I used to think you bullied us because you were weak, I never saw that you were just trying to protect your family name, that it was all you had been taught to do. I can see now, now that you are free from the Dark Lord, I can see that you are as strong as any of us."

"No, I'm not. I wasn't strong enough to stand up to my father."

"Yes but that was because you believe so strongly in your family pride."

"I suppose." Draco shrugged, he was shocked that Harry and Ginny had accepted so easily what he had done, he'd never met anyone who'd looked at the qualities in a horrific action before and their encouragement lifted so much weight off his chest that he felt like flying and suddenly he realized he could tell Blaise, Blaise who had always stood by him and understood the pressure he was under, Blaise who had known him better than anyone.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, I wonder how you'll all take that news - criticisms are welcome of course, I wasn't sure where to take the story just before this point and it took a lot of agonising in registration and tutor time, and much painful writing and rewriting on the flight back from Amsterdam for me to decide what to do. Now, opinion poll time, I was wondering do people want me to drag this story out or finish it hereand write a later installment, thus starting a "series" of some sorts. I feel at some point I would like to write Hermione and Draco getting together or the twins early years, or even more of their adventures at Hogwarts, so a series is probably inevitable but your input is always welcome after all you are my audience! Ciao xxx 


	13. Girls Will Be Girls, Eclairs Are Fun Too

**A/N:** Sorry its taken so long to get this up - I'm ill sobs I don't really know whats wrong but I've been off school the past 4 days, which means no brainstorming in Philosophy. My father had the audacity to suggest that my ill had something to do with my recent activities in Holland (tehehe)...as if, I never drink excessively or stay up all night to say goodbye to certain guys. The reason I chose Falmouth Falcons, is because the guy I got with in Holland lives in Falmouth, as does my brother, and its such a cool place. Totally beautiful. Anyway, despite the fact its shortish, I'm quite fond of it because it includes development of the kids, especially for the James/Lissy fans - but remember, they're only 11.

Just booked my tickets to see Goblet of Fire on Saturday, yay! Thanks for the reviews and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

"Merlin…" Blaise breathed as Draco finished telling him the truth. Draco merely raised his eyebrows and gulped down some more mead. It had taken a fair few measures of firewhisky before he'd summoned up the courage to meet Blaise in the Leaky Cauldron and tell him why he was free. "I…I'm sorry Draco, for having a go at you before…I never thought, never realized…"

"I'm sorry for not having the guts to tell you. I thought I could move on whilst blocking out the past but I can't. People know now and I feel better for it."

"People know? You've gone public?" Blaise was astounded.

"No…no." Draco chuckled softly. "I can't see the general public being quite so accepting. I've told you, Hermione and I told Potter and Ginny, when the time comes I will tell the twins…I'm sorry for keeping this from you Blaise. Sincerely…"

"Draco…its okay. I'm glad that we've finally cleared the air. I'm glad I've got my best friend back after over a decade. Now, what's say we do what we haven't done since we were seventeen and go watch some Quidditch."

"Falcons are playing Portree this Friday…can you get the time off?"

"Don't think I'm on duty. You're on mate."

Draco grinned and raised his glass. "To the old times…" Half the people in the pub turned to look at him, and half of them began searching for their wands. "Quidditch people, Quidditch." He chuckled as he and Blaise finished their pints and made for the door.

* * *

"Strange, this place is quiet…too quiet…" Milla commented as she, Frankie and Zara clambered back through the portrait hole after a long day in Hogsmeade shopping.

"Yeah…" Frankie looked uncertain as she flopped down onto a sofa, as she did so the large majority of Gryffindor house jumped up, setting off fireworks and screaming together. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MILLA!"

Milla giggled softly as Jake and Ed hugged her. "Guys, you shouldn't have…" Charlie, stood next to them, winked and using his wand revealed stacks of Butterbeer and treats from the kitchens. "Thanks." She grinned and hugged her younger brothers again.

"Don't thank us, thank them…" Ed gestured to where Anna, James and Lissy stood grinning sheepishly by the stairs to the boys dormitories. "It was all their idea. They were jealous of you guys going into Hogsmeade so I told them to create some of there own fun, for once they decided not to play some cunning prank and instead channeled their creative energy into something useful."

"Wow, that was eloquent Ed." Lissy teased as she handed Milla a chocolate éclair – her favourite. "Almost sounds as if you practiced that speech." Ed blushed and tickled Lissy fiercely until she splashed him with Butterbeer.

"Unnecessary Liss, unnecessary." He chuckled and walked off to get some more food.

"This was seriously your idea?" Milla questioned the younger trio through a mouthful of cream and pastry.

"Milla, that's gross." Anna wrinkled her nose and poked her cousin in the stomach.

"Yeah, well…it's my birthday; I'm allowed to be a pig."

"It was mostly Lissy's idea actually." James shrugged as he collapsed into an armchair and reached for some Every Flavour Beans, resting his legs over the arm of the chair.

"James, come on take some of the credit. It was you who suggested the bright pink cake and decorations…" She winked and settled herself on his stomach; frowning James grabbed an éclair and dug his finger into the cream. Lissy screwed up her face in mock disgust as he stuck a blob on the tip of her nose. Sticking her tongue out she managed to get the cream off and swallowed it happily. James chuckled and passed her the rest of the éclair, watching with a slightly amused expression as she licked out the rest of the cream with her tongue.

* * *

"I think our seats are just down here, where we always used to go…" Blaise nudged Draco as they entered the magnificent Falmouth Falcons Quidditch stadium, it overlooked the Carrick Roads and the stunning Pendennis Castle. Draco took a deep breath, inhaling the familiar smell. Falcons had been his favourite team as a youngest and he and his father had watched games regularly. "Yep, right here." Blaise said, settling himself down and taking a swig of Butterbeer.

"Brilliant." Draco smirked, they were prime seats, they didn't come cheap but it wasn't as if Draco was short of money. He turned round to survey the stadium and frowned slightly as he saw Harry and Ron making their down towards him accompanied by what Draco presumed was another Weasley brother.

"Malfoy…" Harry spoke softly, it was the first time they had met without their wives calming presence. "Zabini."

"Potter." Blaise nodded.

"Don't tell me, Ginny suggested that you go and watch the Falcons game?" Draco raised a knowing eyebrow and Harry laughed.

"I wondered if there was an ulterior motive." He chuckled and sat down next to Draco who passed him a Butterbeer – each prime box came with a selection of drinks. "Cheers. I don't think you know Ron's older brother, Bill, do you?" Draco shook his head and stood up to shake the man's hand. "Bill, Draco Malfoy, Draco, Bill Weasley."

Bill nodded and sat down. "A definite ulterior motive, especially as Ginny's dumped Sirius and Lily at Mum's and she, Fleur and Hermione were sat in my living room with a large selection of magazines, wine and chocolate when I left."

"Girls night in…" Ron rolled his eyes.

"Better make this a proper boy's night out then." Blaise winked and passed Ron and Bill drinks; the guys all laughed and clinked their bottles together as the teams raced onto the pitch.

* * *

Milla rested her head on Andreas Jordan's shoulder and giggled softly. "Do you think we should wake them up?" He questioned, nodding towards where Lissy and James were curled up in the armchair, fast asleep, Lissy's head resting on James' chest and his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders.

"Nah, let them rest. They were running round like house elves earlier organizing this lot for you."

"Andy, don't use that expression." She swatted at him playfully.

"I won't again if you kiss me goodnight?" Andreas, the tall son of Lee Jordan and Katie Bell, pulled Milla round gently so that her head was resting against his broad chest. Milla rolled her eyes but tilted her fine featured face upwards, her eyelids fluttering shut as Andreas leant down slowly, their lips meeting in a soft kiss.

"Eeeeeww, Milla! That's gross!" They broke apart as James opened his eyes to see his elder cousin wrapping her arms around Andreas to pull him closer. Grabbing a half eaten cake from the table he threw it as hard as he could at her head. Lissy blinked a few times, adjusting to the scene before her before following James' lead and reaching for more leftovers as Andreas growled under his breath and pulled James from the chair, causing Lissy to fall with a thump onto the floor.

"Ouch…" She rubbed her forehead absently as Milla leant against a table, arms folded and chuckling slightly.

"Oh no you don't, Potter…" Andreas laughed and swung James over his shoulder as the younger boy reached for more ammunition, he began to trudge up the boys staircase as Milla guided Lissy upstairs, the younger girl was already half asleep again.

"You like him…" Lissy commented as Milla followed her up the spiral stairs.

"Quick on the uptake aren't you, Malfoy?"

"Yup," Lissy poked her tongue out and opened her dormitory door. "Night Milla, Happy Birthday."

"Night Lissy, thanks." Milla grinned as the young girl disappeared, she continued up the staircase before pausing and tiptoeing back downstairs to find Andreas already stood, smirking slightly, leaning against the wall by the fireplace.

"You came back…" She raised an eyebrow.

"I always do." He grinned sheepishly and lowered his head to look into Milla's sparkling eyes. "Happy Birthday Milla…"

_You got me dancing and crying_

_Running and flying_

_Love don't let me go_

* * *

"Good match?" Hermione questioned as Draco slipped into bed beside her.

"Mmmm. Potter won." He mumbled as he curled up around her.

"Excuse me?"

"Potter…the bet…had to buy everyone firewhisky…Weasley, funny lad…" Draco muttered incoherently before rolling on his back and starting to snore loudly. Hermione rolled her eyes, muttered a silencing spell and grinned into her pillow, glad that Draco was allowing himself fun again.

_You got me dancing and crying_

_Running and flying_

_Love don't let me go_


	14. Dangerous Quidditch Rivalries

**A/N:** Yay! An update! Thanks for all the reviews. I'm a bit sad at the moment - my Dad's leaving Abu Dhabi where he's lived for almost 5 years and unwittingly I've become attached to the city so its a bit of an emotional upheaval for me, so sorry if this is reflected at all in the story. Enjoy the chapter and review please!

* * *

Hermione looked up at the sound of someone stumbling down the stairs to see Draco leaning on the banister looking decidedly the worse for wear. "Hermione?"

"Mmm hmmm?"

"Do we have any hangover potion?" He shielded his eyes against the bright light coming into the room from the pool room and Hermione rolled her eyes. Standing up she guided him over to the table, pooled out a chair and pushed down on his shoulders with a mocking severity.

Draco rested his head against the wood as Hermione clattered about in the kitchen preparing the potion and some breakfast for Draco. A few minutes later she banged down a glass of the pale blue potion, a glass of pumpkin juice and a plate of bacon, sausage and eggs in front of him before sitting down herself with a few almond croissants and an espresso.

"Drink, drink, eat." She said, prodding Draco as he reached for the first glass. A few minutes later he perked up and began attacking his breakfast. "So, you had a good time last night then?"

He swallowed a mouthful of sausage and scrambled eggs. "Excellent. Falcons won 330-170." Draco gulped down some pumpkin juice. "Why didn't you tell me Potter was going?"

"Most have slipped my mind." Hermione winked. "By the way, we've had another letter from the twins." Draco looked up as Hermione pushed a piece of parchment across the table to him.

_Mum, Dad_

_Dad- what did you say to Prof. Zabini? Suddenly Alex and I are the best thing since Butterbeer! Speaking of Butterbeer, me, James and Anna organised a party for Milla Weasley last night, it was her 16th birthday. We had it in the Gryffindor commons so Alex couldn't come, not that he knows Milla really. We're sat together at the Slytherin table writing this right now – at breakfast, you should see the dirty looks we're getting. Its quite funny really, when I came over the Slytherin prefects were really rude but then Alex glared at them and they shut right up. Hope you're both okay, take care, hugs._

_Alex and Lissy xxx_

"I can just imagine that, Alex glaring at the prefects…they should realise that they're brother and sister."

"You know what some Slytherins are like Draco; they can't resist any opportunity to bring Gryffindors down a peg or two." Hermione winked as she picked up Draco's plate and put it in the sink along with the glasses, he was looking hopefully at the remaining croissant on her plate. "Oh go on…have it. Coffee?"

"Please." Draco grinned and reached for the croissant. "So, what are we doing today oh darling wife?"

"We need to go shopping for birthday presents for the twins."

"It's their birthdays soon?" Draco raised his eyebrows and smiled as Hermione passed him a milky coffee.

"Yes, Draco." Hermione sat down on the counter, kicking her heels against the cupboard doors. "Any ideas oh great mastermind?"

Draco tilted his chair backward, balancing precariously as he sipped his coffee. "Brooms."

"For both of them?"

"Sure, they both love Quidditch and they both said they want to learn as quickly as possible. You know, they're setting up junior teams for the lower years now."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Blaise was telling me – first to third years will play together for a junior house cup, and then they can join the full house team when they're older."

"I think that's better…it's such a violent game." Hermione smiled in memory of their own days at Hogwarts and Draco stood up, cuffing his wife round the head affectionately and walking upstairs. "Quality Quidditch Supplies it is then?"

"It seems so…"

* * *

"Draco…" Hermione hurried anxiously after him as he went to place an order for two Firebolt 3's. "Draco…I know I don't know much about flying," he snorted, "but I do know what's good for my children…" she continued indignantly. "And I know those brooms are far too fast for two eleven, well twelve year olds. Draco! Listen to me!" She glared at him as he signed the order form.

"I am listening to you; I'm just choosing to ignore your comments…" He placed an arm around her waist and dragged her bodily from the shop. "Hermione love, the twins will be fine…I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep Draco."

"Fine…but come on, they'll be under teacher supervision the whole time, _and_ its not like whoever's doing the matron bit at Hogwarts these days won't be able to patch them up, _if_ they hurt themselves, and its not like it's a guarantee that they'll do a Potter and fall eighty feet or something." Hermione flinched at the memory and Draco realized that it was a mistake to mention Harry's numerous Quidditch accidents. "And you know that's highly unlikely…"

Hermione wrinkled her nose in thought and Draco suppressed a laugh, it was such an adorable habit of hers. "Okay okay, but if either of them gets injured, they will be off those brooms faster than you can say…"

"Slytherin and Gryffindor dangerous Quidditch rivalries…"

"Draco…" She growled and he pressed a quick kiss to her lips to silence her.

"Leaky Cauldron for lunch?" He questioned but Hermione ignored him jokingly, a steely expression fixed on her features. "Yes Draco darling oh wonderful husband what a remarkably wonderful idea you are such a genius." He mimicked her voice and watched as her face contorted as she tried not to laugh.

"Prat." She mumbled under her breath and Draco chuckled, pulling her closer to him and kissing the top of her head as they entered the bustling pub.

* * *

Lissy blinked a few times before her brain registered what day it was and her eyes flew open wide. Her dorm mates were all sat on the ends of their beds grinning at her with expectant looks on their young faces as she disentangled herself from the covers.

"Happy birthday Lissy!"

"Happy birthday Liss!" They chorused as she looked down at the pile of presents at the foot of her bed. Her eyes widened as she saw a long thin package, flipping it open she saw that the return address was her own in London.

"Oh my god is that a…" Anna had jumped up and sat next to her on her bed and was fingering the shining broom excitedly as Lissy pushed the paper onto the floor, in her small delicate fingers she held the most advance racing broom _ever._

"Wow, I have to see Alex and see if he got one too. I mean, that would be mean if Mum and Dad got me one and didn't get him one, because I don't think anything could equal this for coolness and well, he likes Quidditch as much as me and…wow." Lissy gabbled in her excitement and her friends laughed. Lissy grinned and reached for the rest of her presents, birthdays were such fun…

* * *

"The most gorgeous necklace from Granny Cissa…"

"A watch…"

"Clothes from Granny Ann and Granddad."

"Ditto…"

"Charm for my bracelet from Alicia."

"The coolest book, you should see it…"

"Some seriously lush gloves from everyone at MG Potions…"

"Ditto…"

"And of course the broom…"

"You two, stop gloating." Milla Weasley sat down at the Gryffindor table and hit Lissy and Alex lightly round the head, they grinned mischievously. It was customary for the two of them to compile a grand list of their presents every birthday. One of their traits inherited from their father…

* * *

"You know, they're going to make damn good Quidditch players when they're older." Andreas commented from the stands of the Quidditch stadium as they watched Lissy and Alex fly around on their brooms accompanied by a few friends – as a prefect Milla had volunteered to supervise the young Malfoy's so that they could try out their birthday presents.

"They'll be able to play on the new junior teams." Milla commented as Andreas took her hand that was resting in her lap. She smirked inwardly and rubbed his thumb softly.

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting about them."

"Well, you'd better start remembering oh great Quidditch captain." Milla poked her tongue out at Andreas, who was Gryffindor Quidditch captain and a superb chaser.

"You do that again Miss Weasley, and I might just have to teach you a lesson…" He raised an eyebrow and Milla giggled.

"Do what Mr. Jordan?" She blinked her eyelashes a few times, looking at him with big innocent eyes before poking her tongue out again, only to have Andreas reach down and kiss her roughly.

"That." He smirked as he pulled away.

"Oh." Milla breathed as she placed her hands round his neck to pull his head back down. They broke away to hear cheers and whistles from the first years down on the pitch, evidently they were done for the evening.

"Get a room guys!" Lissy yelled as Andreas and Milla clambered down from the stands, walking towards the younger pupils as they began the walk up to the castle. The sun had set about thirty minutes previously, Andreas had done his best to take advantage of the romantic situation but Alex Malfoy had decided that it was a good moment to perform a few stunts that worried Milla unnecessarily.

A smug smile spread across Andreas' face as Milla reached for his hand and clutched it delicately as they entered the Great Hall for dinner, now he just had to explain about ten times to Jake Weasley that he had not bad intentions whatsoever where his cousin was concerned…and that would not be an easy task. He glanced as Alex Malfoy sat down at the Slytherin table, at least he wasn't in that situation – it couldn't be easy for the boy, his sister had crowds of friends in Gryffindor, Lissy just seemed to appeal to everyone's sense of fun, but the family name had already won the young boy a reputation that was difficult to shrug off amongst the pureblood prejudices that still pervaded the elitist house, he didn't have friends, he had minions.


	15. Are Your Parents Mad?

**A/N: **Thanks for all the reviews. I probably won't be updating this for about a week now (sometime after December 20th I guess) because I'm going into hospital on 14th for a major knee operation. Check out my new fic - Flawed Perfection, to keep you occupied in the mean time (its another DMHG) and review like mad!

* * *

_Lissy,_

_Just to let you know, Dad and I won't be able to pick you up from King's Cross this Friday. Ginny, James' Mum and Anna's aunt will drop you and Alex home and Anna and James will be staying the night._

_See you soon_

_Lots of love, Mum xxx_

Lissy glanced up from the letter at the same time as James and Anna finished reading their respective notes. Mischievous grins crossed their young and excited faces and Andreas looked worried as he turned to Milla. "Uh-oh, Mills, they're up to something."

"Hey!" Lissy called out in indignation. "We're just happy…"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." James half-snarled.

"And why would that be then?"

"Because James and Anna are staying over with me and Alex on the last day of term."

"Are your parents mad?"

Lissy looked up at Alex across the room and grinned, clearly he'd just received the same message. "Yes."

* * *

"Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy…" The Minister for Magic stepped forward to greet the pair as they entered a large reception hall in the Ministry.

"Minister…" Draco nodded politely, his life experiences had left him deeply skeptical of politicians and Hermione had to appeal to his sense of pride to get him to come to the dinner where they would receive their Order of Merlin, Second Class for their work on new lifesaving potions. Oh, and reminding him that he'd have the opportunity to show off Hermione as his wife always helped.

"Hermione, I am struggling to be polite to these people…" Draco muttered through gritted teeth as they crossed the room.

"Grin and bear it, Draco…"

"They made me kill my father…"

Hermione squeezed his hand tightly. "Stand tall Draco, Malfoy pride…don't let them win." Draco smirked slightly as he felt a slight swelling feeling in his chest, the feeling he always got when Hermione purported to being his wife.

"Draco dear boy, long time no see. And who's this beautiful woman?"

"Shit." Draco moaned as some overweight politician he vaguely recognized bared down on them. "Mr. Horsley…this is my wife, Hermione."

"Charmed." The man took Hermione's hand and she inwardly grimaced as he kissed it.

"Hermione, Mr. Elliot Horsley, Department for…"

"Muggle Cooperation my dear."

"Are you Muggleborn yourself?" Hermione questioned politely.

"Yes. Its rather necessary in this line of work, purebloods like Draco and yourself aren't very good, if you don't mind me being rude, at handling those poor Muggles at the best of times."

Hermione gaped slightly. "Pureblood?" She coughed. "Oh no, I'm Muggleborn to. You obviously don't recognize me – Hermione Granger, Harry…"

"Potter's best friend." Mr. Horsley blushed a shade of beetroot Vernon Dursley would have been proud of. "My goodness, my sincerest apologies my dear. I simply didn't recognize you." He gulped as Draco glared at him. "It's been a while since you were in the public eye Ms Granger…"

"Mrs. Malfoy…" Hermione corrected.

"Mrs. Malfoy. And, I must say, I had no idea that you had married Draco here. In fact…"

"We've been living abroad. We didn't exactly shout about it." Draco nodded curtly and took Hermione's hand. "Now if you'll excuse us, there's someone over there…"

"That you simply must catch up with. Yes of course, wonderful to see you again." Mr. Horsley nodded and backed away, still in shock.

"No, that I'd much rather speak to than you, you bumbling idiot." Draco muttered under his breath as he and Hermione walked across to where one of their connections at St. Mungo's was looked bored to death by a Horsley look-a-like.

* * *

"Can you see my Mum?" James questioned as he, Alex, Anna and Lissy piled off the Hogwarts Express with their trunks.

"James, we haven't seen your Mum before…" Alex laughed as Anna's owl squawked loudly.

"Long red hair, probably with a load of people with red hair."

"Like…there…" Alex waved a hand in the direction of a crowd of men and women, most of the men having red hair.

"Mum!" James shouted and Ginny came flying across the platform, grabbing her son and hugging him fiercely as he blushed furiously.

Releasing the raven haired boy she gave Anna, who looked like a miniature of Ginny herself a warm hug. "Anna banana, I missed you darling…"

"Missed you too Auntie Gin."

"And you two must be Hermione's pair." Alex and Lissy looked aghast as they were swept into Ginny's arms and Anna and James chuckled on the sidelines. As Ginny let them go the youngsters noticed the smallest of tears leave her eyes and James hastened to change the subject.

"Where's Lils and Siri?"

"At your Grandmother's. Oh, hello Milla…" Ginny grinned and kissed Bill's stunning daughter on the cheek.

"Watch out for that pair, right minxes." She chuckled and winked as she ran off after her father.

Ginny eyed Alex and Lissy warily as they did their best to conjure innocent expressions. She merely chuckled and shook her head as she set off towards the barrier, muttering about twins.

* * *

At a touch from Lissy's small hand the front door of Hermione and Draco's grand townhouse swung open and Ginny ushered the youngsters inside, James and Anna looking around in wonderment where as Alex plonked himself down on his trunk and grinned. "This is nothing; you should see the manor…"

"Manor?" James asked incredulously. Ginny tutted and headed for the basement.

"Why don't you lot go up to your rooms? James, Banana, choose what you need for the night from your trunks and then bring them back down to the hallway, I'll send them home for you. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

She disappeared down the spiral staircase and Alex stood up once more, heaving his trunk up the staircase. A few minutes later Lissy and Anna were collapsed inside the pink and silver room, gasping for breath. "Why could Aunty Gin just levitate them up?" Moaned Anna and Lissy nodded in agreement, fingering her duvet. "By the way, I love your room…" Anna jumped up and glanced out of the window which had a view of the square in which the house was situated.

Lissy smiled appreciatively. "Dad always says it's far too pink…"

"Dad's don't know anything." Anna winked and Lissy giggled.

"Do you want a tour? Oh, do you have any swimming things with you?"

"You have a pool?"

"In the basement."

"Wow. I don't, have anything with me I mean, but I could get Aunty Gin to transfigure me something."

"Okay." Lissy said cheerily and ran to her drawers to find her own costume whilst Anna rifled through her trunk to find something suitable. A few minutes later they were banging Anna's trunk down the stairs – a change of clothes and pajamas deposited on Lissy's bed, causing Ginny to think that the ceiling of the kitchen was caving in as she sipped her tea.

"Aunty Gin…is it okay if I call you that? Can we go swimming? Anna doesn't have anything, but could you transfigure…and tell the boys we're in the pool." Lissy burbled as she pulled some pumpkin juice from the fridge and poured two large glasses of it.

Ginny chuckled at the twelve year old and nodded. "Of course. Take care, Anna, what is it you want me to transfigure?" A pair of sleep shorts and a vest top were quickly turned into a modest purple tankini and within minutes cheerful shouts and splashes could be heard from beyond the French windows.


	16. Can You Ever Really Change?

**A/N:** Sorry its taken so long to get this out, can't remember if I've updated since I came out of hospital or not. The last few weeks have been such hard work, I'm totally exhausted, and I'm supposed to be back in school but obviously can't return full time as yet. Which is a problem since I have exams next week. However I've found some great degree courses involving Creative Writing, including a few in places I would love to go to uni. Thanks for the reviews and enjoy the chapter, I'm quite fond of it actually, its all set in one scene which is unusual for me and its one of my longer offerings.

* * *

Ginny examined a picture of Lissy and Alex, it was in a solid silver frame inscribed on the back with _"Alexander Draco Lucius & Elizabeth Hermione Narcissa, with Draco Abraxas Malfoy, Bali, 2 months old"_. The twins were balanced precariously in Draco's tanned arms and his once steely gaze was watchful of his delicate charges who every so often would wrinkle their noses and blink in the soft evening sunlight.

She softly put it back down, the kitchen was quiet compared to the shouts that echoed from pool – the children had consumed their dinner with alarming speed and returned to their cheerful games.

"You know if you melted that down you could probably make a few nice necklaces." Ginny turned around to see a chuckling and half naked Draco. His muscular and sinewy frame uncovered until below his belly button where a pair of black board shorts hung effortlessly from his hips. As he turned around Ginny had a brief glimpse of a tattoo on his shoulder blade as he rummaged in the fridge.

"Kid's been alright?" Draco emerged clutching a beer and smiled tiredly.

"Yeah they've been great. Extremely noisy," her point was echoed by a voracious scream from the pool at which Draco barely batted an eyelid. "But great."

"Good, good. Best not to let them have all the fun then," he winked and sauntered through to the pool where she had a glimpse of his ankles being grabbed by various small hands and a shout of surprise as he was pulled into the water. Chuckling Ginny turned back to the table to see Hermione smiling at her.

"Gin, you are a saviour."

"How were the meetings?"

"Horribly dull." She handed her contemporary a glass of gillywater and sighed. Shrieks and squeals erupted from the pool as Draco initiated a particularly violent water fight. "Look's like he's found a way of relaxing." They chuckled and sipped their drinks. "How's Harry? Sirius and Lily killed each other yet? Ron? Your mother?" It hadn't just been that day that Hermione had been tied up in business meetings; she and Ginny hadn't seen each other for over a week.

"Mum's good. Well, she was when I dropped Siri and Lils off; goodness knows they've probably torn the house apart by now. Ron and Harry are looking forward to tomorrow," Draco had invited the pair, along with Blaise and Bill over for a poker night. "You know how competitive Ron gets." Hermione rolled her eyes and giggled.

"Still?"

"Oh yes…Jake, Fred's eldest beat him at chess in the summer and he went into a sulk the like's of which you have not seen since, well…your fourth year. Fred, ever the proud father, _always_ brings it up. Oh, and of course how could I forget, Angelina said yes of course to the invitation. Both of them in fact."

Hermione grinned, she was holding a Christmas Eve dinner in the townhouse, and then she and Draco were hosting a large party at the Manor on New Year's Eve.

"She can't wait to see the houses," Ginny continued. "But you should have seen the look on her face when I said that the New Year's party was at Malfoy Manor. I think she thought it had fallen into disrepair by now or something."

"Hardly…Narcissa's house elves are the most dedicated bunch south of the Arctic. Quite frightening really…"

"And Narcissa doesn't mind…"

"About an invasion of Weasley's in her house?" Ginny nodded. "Draco's awfully persuasive. And she's accepted me hasn't she?" Hermione winked.

"You're coming to the Burrow on Boxing Day aren't you?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Upon her appearance, Ginny had explained to Hermione that given the large numbers involved in Weasley family get togethers, it had been decided a few years back that Christmas Day was spent in your own family home – of course a couple of the siblings and their family's always got together, and Molly and Arthur would grace a couple of gatherings every year, due to the fact that there were nearly thirty of them in the nuclear family now. So it was a lot easier if they stayed at home with their spouses' families and then everyone would descend on the Burrow on Boxing Day. Since their arrival back in England, Hermione and Draco had stayed in the townhouse for Christmas – much cosier, and Narcissa and Hermione's parents would join them for the festivities.

"You know, I still don't quite understand it…" Ginny glanced towards the pool and back at Hermione.

"Understand what, Ginny?"

"Draco…how could he change _that_ much, has he really changed?" She blushed as Hermione frowned and hastily gulped some of her drink.

"I don't honestly think he has changed." Hermione sighed. "Sometimes, when he's in a bad mood, I see the word _Mudblood_ or some other similar critique forming on his lips and I have to get out of there before he mentions it. But…" She hurriedly chose to continue her sentence as she saw the look on Ginny's face. "He knows I won't accept behaviour like that in any shape or form so he doesn't do it, or stops himself before he says it. We've both become very good at removing ourselves from situations where we bring up our past."

"But surely, how can you love someone who doesn't accept you for who you are?"

"Oh he does, completely. The problem lies in his upbringing and his initial reaction insult me is to curse my parentage or some such nonsense. He hasn't changed much, but he has improved. And I love him for that, for what he has become, for what he's made of himself." She turned to see Draco stood on the edge of the pool holding Lissy above the water, she could see the Dark Mark on his arm, but the smile on his face contradicted that so much Hermione couldn't help the ghost of a smile that graced her lips. "He's had a horrific past Ginny, he's done some awful things – and I know that some of them he wouldn't take back, _couldn't_ take back, but I've come to terms with that. After all, after the war I looked back and I know I wouldn't take back some of the things I did. He's made the effort to move beyond his past though, and it's been very hard for him, particularly the recent incident with the ministry."

"Would he ever return to his old ways?"

"Old ways? Ginny they are _his_ ways…oh no, not the murdering and torture," she added quickly, the look on Ginny's face was one of utter shock and horror. "Merlin no, he did that under the threat of Voldemort, I merely meant his pureblood upbringing. I suppose you haven't noticed much with the children, but they certainly have a slightly superior attitude. When he was younger, Draco truly believed he was superior, to me, to you, to everyone. He is still arrogant, although it's toned down now."

"I had noticed actually, he's certainly more pleasant, at least around me if not Harry."

"That's an old grudge, its going to take some work to overcome it…"

"But they are both trying." Ginny smirked and Hermione chuckled.

"Yes, shockingly." She winked and a look passed between the women that suggested that no matter what their husbands thought, they had them under complete control.

Ginny glanced at her watch and frowned, "I'd better get going; I said to Mum I'd pick Siri and Lils up over ten minutes ago. She'll start worrying soon, considering where I am."

"Okay, thanks so much again Gin."

"Oh no problem." Ginny smiled warmly and the pair stood up. "I'll just pop in and say goodnight to the kids." Hermione nodded and Ginny crossed over to the pool where she narrowly avoided getting soaked before returning to Hermione.

"Pop over for coffee tomorrow when you come to get James. Lavender's coming as well."

"Okay, three o'clock right?"

"Yeah." Hermione nodded and the two hugged, Ginny disapparating moment's later. Hermione sat back down in her chair and sighed, running her hands through her hair. Explaining her feelings, and Draco's changes always exhausted, but she was certainly better at it than him – when asked he just mumbled and defiantly stated that he was the same person as ever. And he was, in a way, after all you can't change the entire fabric of your personality, it was just the way that he used his particular traits in a different way. "Mum?" She looked up to see Lissy a few feet a way, observing her quizzically.

"Oh, hello darling. How was your term?" She smiled weakly in her exhaustion only to be almost knocked off the chair as the younger of her children enveloped her in a heart warming hug despite soaking her mother to the bone.

"Amazing…"Lissy breathed and started into a huge crescendo of newly acquired knowledge and gossip, Hermione grinned to herself, _this_ was what having children was all about.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope all Hermione's blathering makes sense! Describing Draco as muscular might come as a slight oddity given that he's over thirty in this story, hence the comment about his frame and muscles being sinewy. I don't want him to be all perfect and smooth because of his age, he's a bit rough around the edges now.


	17. A Difficult Time Of Year

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews! This chapter's only short...sorry. I'm not sure about it that much, but any feedback would be awesome. Enjoy!

* * *

The doorbell shrilled and Hermione groaned in exasperation, she was up to her eyes in stuffing (her grandmother's recipe) and Draco appeared to have vanished. "Lissy, Lissy!" She shouted, hoping above all hopes that her voice would carry upstairs. No answer. "Lissy…Elizabeth!" The doorbell went again.

"What?" Hermione could picture Lissy hanging over the third floor banister. Moving over she stood on the bottom step of the spiral staircase, making sure to hold her hands well away from her body.

"Could you answer the door please?" Her question was answered with a flurry of footsteps. Lissy ran to the door and reached up to unlock it, pulling it open to reveal Narcissa, tall and stately as ever stood on the doorstep.

"Granny Cissa!" Lissy jumped up and hugged her father's mother, nearly knocking her down the steps.

"Elizabeth…careful, please." Narcissa pulled back and brushed herself down.

"Merry Christmas." The girl grinned happily and Narcissa's cold front was broken, a small smile spread onto her face and she stroked her granddaughter's fair hair as they moved inside. "Oh, your cold…come down to the kitchen, Mum's cooking so its all warm." Lissy took the bags of presents Narcissa had enlarged as soon as she stepped inside and led her grandmother down into the kitchen.

"Oh hello Narcissa," Hermione smiled. "I'll be over in a second when I'm done with this turkey. Lissy, why don't you get your grandmother a drink? Coffee? I've no idea where Draco is, I presume he'll be down in a second."

Narcissa settled herself on the deep red corduroy sofas and took the mug handed to her; "Elizabeth, why don't you go and put the presents under the Christmas tree whilst I talk to your mother. And see if you can find your father." Lissy nodded and trotted off leaving Hermione and Narcissa alone in the kitchen.

"How are you?" Hermione asked, treading carefully.

"Very well." Hermione had noticed as soon as Narcissa arrived that her countenance was slightly lower than usual.

"I expect, this time of year is always difficult for you isn't it."

Narcissa stiffened. She never could understand Hermione's fondness for discussing emotions. "Because of Lucius you mean?"

"Yes." Hermione nodded as she slid the turkey into the oven and washed her hands. "I know Draco finds it difficult."

"Lucius was never one for Christmas spirit particularly, Draco used to get terribly upset when his father wouldn't find the time to play with him on Christmas Day." Narcissa sniffed slightly as Hermione settled herself on the same sofa.

"Yes he said, it makes him more determined to make Christmas special for the twins I think."

"He has learnt, he has learnt particularly well from his father's failings I believe…" Narcissa faltered and Hermione gasped in shock as the older woman suddenly pulled her close, she could feel tears slide down Narcissa's cheeks.

"Draco is a wonderful father." Hermione rubbed Narcissa's back soothingly wondering what was going on, this was Narcissa Malfoy not Molly Weasley, Narcissa was a statue of grace and elegance.

"Lucius was not a bad father," She sounded indignant. "He did not know how to love; I suffered for many years before coming to terms with that and accepting it."

"Draco told me…at the end…Lucius gave us his blessing."

"He did?" Narcissa pulled back slightly.

"Yes."

Narcissa sobbed again. "Oh dear, I am so sorry, I've never been accepting of you because of some stupid prejudices, you are a wonderful woman, a perfect mother, a perfect wife…"

"I'm not perfect, Narcissa."

"For Draco, you are. And for me…I spent too much of my life heartbroken because of Lucius, but seeing you, making my son, our son happy, it makes my life worthwhile."

"Oh…" Hermione didn't really know what to say to such a proclamation. "Thank you."

Narcissa smiled weakly and dabbed at her tears with a tissue. "Now, I must go and find Alexander and Draco, I suppose they are in the play room?" Hermione nodded and smiled, amazed at how quickly Narcissa could harness her emotions. It was a testament to her years at Lucius' side.

* * *

"Okay, time for presents." Draco grinned and the adults laughed as Lissy and Alex pushed back their chairs and scampered up the stairs to the living room where a magnificent tree stood, presents spilling out from underneath it. Hermione, Draco, Narcissa and Hermione's parents followed at a more sedate pace, carrying bottles of wine and half drunk glasses up to the living room where they found Alex and Lissy knee deep in torn wrapping paper in front of the roaring fire already.

"You started without me? I'm heartbroken…" Draco pouted jokingly as he sat down, Hermione tucked into his side.

"Sorry Dad," Alex grinned and threw a present at his father, Draco caught it and rapidly unwrapped it – a dark grey White Stuff t-shirt. "Gran took us shopping," Alex nodded towards Hermione's mother and Draco smiled, the Muggle brand had become one of his favourites over the years.

Lissy had stood up and was giving presents and kisses to her grandparents, the twins had been shopping with Mrs. Granger for their parents, and then with Hermione for the grandparent's presents. It was a logistical nightmare trying to keep everything a secret.

"Oh darlings, this is beautiful." Hermione reached out and caught Lissy for a big hug as she opened her present – a deep red cashmere hat, glove and scarf set. Narcissa smiled at the scene before her, Lissy in Hermione's arms, Draco and Alex exchanging jokes, Hermione's parents in raptures over some magical gift, it was more than she could have dreamed for after the years of staid propriety in the Malfoy household.


	18. How Things Change

**A/N:** Huge apologies for the length of time that its taken me in writing this, but I have excuses - my Mum's boyfriend nearly died about two weeks ago so I've been rather busy, distraught and unimaginative. Thankfully he's okay now and I was able to churn out this chapter. Excuse this Abba references. ;)

* * *

"Future romance, do you think?" Ginny nudged Hermione in the side and handed her a Butterbeer. They were stood to one side of one of the manor's many reception rooms, observing the children as they chatted and played an assortment of party games. It was still early in the evening, and most of their guests had yet to arrive.

James and Lissy were eyeing each other intermittently during the rather raucous game of wizarding twister that was taking place, Ed and Will Weasley being the main protagonists in the loudness of the shouts that echoed around. The largeness of the extended Weasley family meant that along with the rest of Hermione and Draco's collected friends that had been invited and were yet to arrive – some former Hogwarts contemporaries, some from their globe trotting, some from work, the Manor would be packed to the rafters, and Hermione was enjoying the chance to observe the children before having to play hostess properly.

"Draco would hate it." Hermione chuckled and sipped her drink as esteemed husband walked through the room towards where a group of guys were battling it out around Lucius' old card table in a fierce battle of poker that looked destined to rage for at least another hour.

"How much like her father is she?"

Hermione glanced at Lissy critically. "Not outwardly, but inside she is very much like Draco. She can be quite moody; I pity James if he falls for her in a few years time."

"I thought as parents we were supposed to give glowing reports of our children?" Ginny winked and the pair laughed quietly.

"She's got wonderful good points, but if James is like either of you, I doubt their well suited." Hermione shrugged before bursting out into loud laughter as Zara knocked Ed off his face sending him sprawling towards an antique vase – everything in the Manor had been proofed against knocks – Narcissa insisted on it when "unnecessarily raucous children" came round.

"How on earth did Draco manage to grow up in this place?" Ginny questioned.

"He was brought up with remarkable restraint, I suppose its half the reason he went off the rails after the war."

Ginny nodded sagely before being dragged off by her loud and bubbly niece Zara to join the game, Hermione rolled her eyes and chuckled, moving off to speak to Molly Weasley and her mother.

* * *

"Oh no…no Fred, no!" Hermione shrieked as she was pulled to her feet by the rather drunk man, an all too familiar song had just come on and she desperately tried to pull herself from his grasp, squealing loudly as he half danced her across the room.

Everyone in the know was laughing loudly and had expectant looks.

"Dear Merlin woman, keep the noise down…" Draco muttered from where he sat winning large amounts of money at poker.

"Oh you haven't heard anything yet, Malfoy." George chuckled as he threw Ginny and Hermione magical microphones; Draco swiveled around on his chair looking most bemused as Hermione blushed deeply.

"I'm not drunk enough!" Hermione warned, "And I still can't sing."

"You couldn't at your eighteenth 'Mione and we didn't care then, go on love – centre stage." George pushed her and Ginny into the middle of the room. Hermione sighed and resigned herself to the inevitable, raising the microphone she gave Ginny a quick smile and the younger woman nodded in return.

"And when you get the chance, you are the dancing queen, young and sweet only seventeen…"

"You can dance; you can jive, having the time of your life…" The assembled group of Weasley's and various other former Order members laughed loudly as the Abba mix slid into the next song, George had got Hermione hideously drunk at her eighteenth birthday party in 12 Grimmauld Place and she and Ginny, with backing from Luna and Fleur, had performed – most atrociously, everyone was agreed on that fact.

Draco raised an incredulous eyebrow and his eyes widened in fear as Hermione walked towards him, hips swaying seductively as the beat changed, she settled herself on his lap and grinned. "I've been cheated by you since I don't when, so I made up my mind it must come to an end, look at me now, will I ever learn, I don't know how – but I suddenly lose control, there's a fire within my soul." She ground herself into his lap and he gulped, everyone whistled and catcalled raucously – Ginny was doing the same to Harry. "Just one look and I can hear a bell ring, one more look and I forget everything…"

"It's quite disgusting really," Alex commented to Zara as they got themselves drinks. "Parents really shouldn't behave like that in public."

Zara nodded in agreement and handed Alex a Butterbeer. "Do you think they're very drunk?"

"Mum isn't, and that's what's so awful about it."

"Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty, what would life be, without a song or dance what are we? So I say thank you for the music, for giving it to me. So I say thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing, thanks for all the joy they're bring. Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty, what would life be, without a song or dance what we? So I thank Abba for the music, for giving it to me!" Ginny and Hermione finished on an atrociously high and badly sung note, hands linked they bowed to their cheering audience.

"I'm going to kill Fred and George…" Hermione muttered as they walked back over.

"Empty threat darling." George commented sagely and Fred smirked as Hermione shook her head at them and went off to collect herself a strong drink to help ease the embarrassment.

* * *

Draco chuckled as he slipped a strong arm around Hermione's waist – it was nearing midnight and she was more than slightly drunk now, swaying dangerously without his support…not that he was much better, Alex and Lissy kept shooting them mockingly disappointed looks and Draco considered briefly who was running the family, them or the kids.

"They always win, Malfoy." Harry smirked as he handed the blonde another firewhisky.

"Pardon?"

"The children, we try and convince ourselves that we are in charge but in reality they run the show. James just pulled me aside to reprimand me about kissing Ginny in public, the horror."

Draco laughed with Harry and clinked their glasses together. "I think I might just agree with you on that Potter, but just this once." He winked and Harry just rolled his eyes.

"I'll let that go, seeing as you're very drunk."

Draco felt Hermione slide slightly down his side and struggled to hold her up and she giggled at something Blaise has said (a few of the children had been mortified to see their Potions master in attendance). "No more so than you, Potter. What's that, you're eleventh shot?"

"Twelfth, actually, if you're counting." Harry raised his eyebrows and downed the amber liquid before marching off toward Charlie Weasley.

"It's nearly midnight!" Ginny shrieked suddenly as she glanced at the imposing clock on the marble mantelpiece of the large reception room where most of the guests were gathered.

"Oh, someone switch on the WWN, we can't miss the dongs!" Hermione called out as she and Draco stumbled into the centre of the room, everyone was gathering into a circle and linking hands.

"The dongs?" He asked his wife incredulously.

"Yes, the dongs!"

"I'm afraid I'm not quite following, love." He said as he crossed his arms and took her hand in one of his, and Parvati Macmillan (nee Patil) in his other.

"The dongs, you know…the Big Ben noise things at midnight."

"Oh, the chimes you mean?"

"Yes, the dongs!" She grinned mischievously and gave his hand a squeeze and Ron turned on the radio loudly and rejoined the large circle of friends that fell silent as the first chimes (dongs) of the famous Muggle bell rang out. Draco smirked as Hermione felt Hermione tug lightly on his hand for every ring of the New Year before she burst into song with everyone else and the circle began to jump up and down as they called out the familiar "Auld Lang Syne". As he caught Bill Weasley's eye across the room (the older man held Lissy's slender hand in his as they celebrated) and got a cheerful grin in return, he realised the irony of the situation – seeing in the New Year with his Muggleborn wife and half-blood children along with their assorted mix of friends of every creed in a house that had once been the seat of the most aristocratic of purebloods. Funny how things change.

_Fin._

* * *

_"The dongs" - this was a corny reference to my own New Year's celebrations this year, slightly tempered because I couldn't walk but copious amounts of champagne and screaming about dongs down the main street of my town were involved._

Yup, sorry - that's it for this fic, I figured there wasn't much plot left now that Draco and Hermione had resolved many of their issues and so decided to tuck Missing into a nice warm cosy bed for a very long night. Don't worry though, that's not the end of their lil universe, they'll be back (with lots of fun for all of the James/Lissy shippers). Big up to Ana "Clearly not Quidditch" Willis (DRACO STYLEE! MY BAD!) and Zani for their help & thanks to everyone elsefor all the wonderful reviews and your support through this, my first fic!

Much love,

Christina.


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